Do you agree with the British penal system?

I really like judges in this country. When they have to sentence someone they also give account for what they are doing and why that person being sentenced does deserve this or that punishment for what they did. In America is pretty much the same kind of thing, really. However, I think they, sometimes, do get things wrong just like the rest of us humans; not so more because they might p sentence over someone who has never committed a crime but just because I think it wise to err on the side of a caution at times; most particularly, if you do not know what you are talking about. Today I could read in the paper that some granny had got a 14 years prison sentence for smuggling cocaine into the UK. As the judge ped sentence the defendant’s attorney asked for some sympathy due to the elderly lady’s old age and the many illnesses she actually suffers from, only for the judge to reply he could not possibly take any sympathy for his client as “cocaine is a very pernicious substance which can cause havoc and destroy personal lives”. I would not take cocaine even if it was given to me for free, this is for sure, but I think it is down to doctors and sociologist to say how pernicious this substance is, and addicts, to explain why is it that substance has destroyed their lives and in what way it did. I am sure the reason behind for this granny to smuggle cocaine into the UK is that of making money (this is what she should be punished for), and not so more to damage other people’s lives, but what do you guys think?