According to historian Gordon S. Wood, “Traditionally[,] accused criminals were held in jail only until they went to trial; then if convicted they were fined, whipped, mutilated, or executed, but not incarcerated.” [Emphasis mine.]
“Debt and Democracy” in the June 12, 2003, issue of The New York Review. Wood points out that debtors were the sole exception. “But actions for debt could send the debtor to prison where he languished….”
(Wood is indeed the same Gordon S. Wood whose work is discussed in the one-upsmanship bar scene in Good Will Hunting.)