Lower prison terms for newbies is a great idea.
I'm on the fence about the high numbers for important people. It would depend on how the players react. Remember a 40 day cap doesn't mean they'll actually be there that long, there's just a greater motivation for their realm mates to bail them out. That is of course if they want to. A King Richard and Prince John situation could be very interesting in Battle Master.
Question, if someone pays a character's ransom the realm must let them go correct? That's pretty important here.
If message traffic were made more accessible, then certain other restrictions would have to be put in place, such as preventing access to any scout reports, battle reports, realm/army information, etc. Maybe restrict message types to Letter and Roleplay. Or maybe there could be some option for the enemy judge to read copies of the messages their prisoner sends. (Something would have to be worked out where this doesn't impact the Torture option of gaining access to a prisoner's letters.)
I would suggest they not have access to any realm wide communications, but they can still message anyone on their contacts list and receive messages from anyone contacting them. The judge can read any of these letters and any letters the prisoner receives. This would discourage military leaders from sending orders from prison.
Another possibility is limit the number of letters they can send. This would discourage griefers from spamming the judge.
Doesn't the torture option give you access past letters? That's pretty useful in and of itself.
