Longevity And Justice

[Lanefan]

Agreeing with some others here: the OP seems to assume incarceration would be the most common form of punishment, which might very well not be the case.

For minor crimes in a typical D&D setting I could easily see punishment taking the form of enforced labour of some sort or - in more rural areas - a day in the stocks; while for major crimes the possible punishments could include physical maiming*, death*, or being put into slavery or indefinite hard labour.

* - edit to add: with harsh interdict laid against any healer or cleric doing anything to mitigate or reverse these effects.

 

[Dioltach]

I remember reading a short sci-fi story years ago, in which a space traveller found himself on a strange planet and unwittingly committed a crime. He is told that he will be put to death the following morning, but he may spend the night in luxury, his every whim catered to. The twist? One night on that planet lasts 99 Earth years ...

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe the punishment is to be sold as slave (to be bought by genies), or the option to marry a rich noble, or to become a half-golem soldier for years, or to be sent to a prison in the astral plane. And orc could survive centuries of boring prison but when the punishment ends and he come back to his land, his tribe can't remember him, all his generation is dead. Worse if he is sent to a special temple with regeneration powers, where his organs are collected time after time, for example to feed undeads lords and minions. Maybe there are blood farms in the demiplane of dread (Ravenloft).