In Impromptus Monday, I was talking about prison conditions: in places such as Guantanamo Bay, and places such as the Cuban, Chinese, and North Korean gulags. (The head of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, called Guantanamo Bay the “gulag of our times.” That must mean that those real gulags aren’t gulags. Or something. Whatever. In Amnesty’s world, black is white and down is up.)

A reader writes, “In The Education of Lev Navrozov: A Life in the Closed World Once Called Russia, the author talks about how well Lenin and his co-revolutionaries were treated in czarist prisons. My favorite part is that Lenin insisted he be provided with a special brand of tea (I think), which he received.”

I don’t know about Lenin and tea, but this letter reminded me of something. Let me quote Ron Radosh, reviewing Armando Valladares, many years ago:

When Fidel Castro was imprisoned following his attack on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, he was given good food, large and airy quarters, full mail privileges and even conjugal visits. Mr. Castro himself wrote of “many pleasant hours” spent in an airy yard, of good dinners with Italian chocolate for dessert and two baths a day. “They’re going to make me think I’m on vacation,” he quipped in a letter. By his own account, Mr. Castro had “plenty of water, electric lights, food, clean clothes, and all for free.”

Why the “Mr. Castro”? This was in the New York Times (which, thankfully, stopped calling him “Dr. Castro,” as it once did — because the beast had a law degree). (NR loved to make fun of that “Dr. Castro.” NR made a lot of fun of the NYT in those days.) Well, we all know how sweetly Lenin and Castro went on to treat their own prisoners . . .

P.S. I wonder whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — “mastermind” of the 9/11 attacks, which killed 3,000; beheader of Daniel Pearl — is using his elliptical machine today. Or just takin’ it easy — chillaxin’.