It existed... in Europe was the 'Vendeta' system... this was in the Balkans (Albania), and parts of Italy.

You steal a sheep, I get something in return. You kill someone, you die... or someone else from your family is going to pay for it...

In some other places it was protecting your honor by duel, ettc... Pirates were hanged, together with members of the ship that mutinied. In some places people were exiled/shunned from the community

etc. etc.

As, you see, it was an eye for an eye, where death was a common punishment, then it was financial retribution, or banishment/exile

As you see, a world without prisons was a harsh one. If you were a weak person, without a large family, you were toast.