@OfTheNight
A few of things.
Firstly: This is what's reported. It makes a far better eye-catching headline that "prayers were said for Myra Hindley" than "prayers were said for local prisoners".
I'm sure you've been in the situation where you've seen the report afterwards and they've picked a tiny bit you didn't really notice that has been the headline.
I once heard Desmond Tutu preach. He gave an amazing 40 minute sermon, and the headline afterwards misquoted one sentence giving it a totally different meaning to what it had meant in context.
Then, she's a high profile prisoner. So her name will come up and be remembered. Perhaps people feel that by praying for the worst prisoner they can think of that it will show how forgiving they are? It's not that she's seen as more deserving at all.
With your friend, I assume you're talking about prayers in church. My dm is a lay reader (CofE). It's something she struggles with when doing intercessions. At what point do they take them off the prayer list etc? She doesn't want to upset people, but if they don't cut back the list of people just keeps increasing.
Having an elderly church, they can easily have 20 people on the prayer list each week for illnesses, another 30+ who died "at this time" etc.
It feels unfair to drop someone off the 30+ who "died at this time" because they don't have a relative coming to church, but the church has been around now for 150 years and the list increases each year - and being a small village, you do get the person who comes each year to hear their grandmother's name who died in 1923 and will be upset if they aren't prayed for.
Then you get people who will always have something they want to have prayer for - my favourite when I was doing a weekly prayer list was the person who wrote in every week with such delights as "please pray for X as she has no one to take her shopping this week" (aka please can someone volunteer) and "please pray for X who felt a little unwell on Monday and is now feeling better" (does she want prayer to feel unwell again?)
And then you know when you have several similar to the above that A, who has terminal cancer is trying new treatment this next week, B has broken their hip and C's son was in a skiing accident and still is in a coma - but they haven't asked, although you know they'd appreciate it.
So what do you do? Do you put the squeaky wheel in, who will almost certainly be upset if you don't, or the people who seem to be more urgent?
It's a really difficult one.
With your friend I'd guess she's fallen off the bottom of the list, if that makes sense. It isn't that she's seen as less deserving, more that it's not an immediate need or a specific reason. There's no reason why she should be prayed for this Sunday for her rather than last Sunday or next Sunday. So she doesn't exactly get forgotten, but she's not top priority because it won't be any different next week... and next week...
From what I can tell from the article, prayers were said because it was "prisoners' Sunday". If, for example, they had a bereaved parents' Sunday, then I'd expect your friend to be prayed for.
As well it may be a case of a little bit of "out of sight out of mind" too. If she wants prayer, then maybe she does need to say "I'd like prayer next Sunday because it's the 5th anniversary" or whatever. Because I can be sure people haven't forgotten that it happened, but they won't have the dates in their head to remember times like that, nor will it ever seem urgent as it was during the time he was ill.
Also, although the prayers may not have been said in church, people may well still be praying.
I have a list of people in my head, some of whom I knew well, some I never knew, that I pray for when I have time, often on my commute to work.
There was the lady I passed on a bus over 25 years ago, covered in blood. I got off at the next stop, but never found her. The man who gave me £5 when dd1 was a toddler because he heard me say I couldn't afford something and his family was all abroad and he hadn't seen them for 3 years, and he was lonely. My friend whose husband died in a freak accident, another who has a long term progressive illness; the couple who I know long for a baby, but probably now are too old, and an online friend whose son is seriously ill etc
None of them know they're prayed for, but I do.
I'm not sure if that answers you. Hope it does a little.