A fellow by the name of Heinlein came up with a similar solution.  It was based on 'an eye for an eye' concept.  HIs example was a drunk driver who ran over someone breaking their leg.  After conviction, the guilty party was taken to the same location and under the same weather conditions, they ran over his leg with a car and broke it.  The ambulance crew  was not permitted to assist him until the exact number of minutes that the original victim had to wait.  He left it to the reader to imagine how rapists were treated.  B

But, as you say, the US has chosen jail to warehouse our problems.  I view it as a second best choice.  It beats the catch-and-release method favored by the progressives.