Ray you asked:
Am I to understand the western jails are resorts for the jailed?
Prison regimes in the West greatly vary, I am sure there are websites that rate prisons.

In the UK there are irregular press stories that certain prisons, referred to as "open" are relaxed to say the least; in the USA some federal prisons are "Club Fed" IIRC and can host VIPs, such as Spiro Agnew, once a Vice President.

I do recall a once popular saying, international I expect. "If you cannot do the time, don't do the crime". Some convicted criminals I encountered found non-open prisons here were OK, few seemed to be deterred by their time there.