I do not want to make the choice, rather, I'd like the use of CCTV cameras, witnesses, snitches, etc. To be used in an actual courtroom set up on location to determine if prisoners are guilty of murder or not. If so, they're properly sentenced and, if enough violations occur, they're sentenced to death. When they're sentenced, they'll start of at 80 or 90% clemency, a lot of reviews, etc. A sort of off balance because, logically, you could give the judge a kickback for certain problem prisoners. Or, in essence, it's designed to make something that can remove problem prisoners without using cheese much less reliable. They might be granted life, and thus the cycle continues, EXCEPT they loose a trait. IE: Loss of good traits first, then moderate, then bad ones. Eventually, they may just become a genuine dude who sees the error of their ways. The whole point is that I just want something that fits in the lore and doesn't leave people just murdering about with practically no punishment, which heavily breaks immersion for me.
This whole system should be expensive to set up, but likewise sustain itself provided a genuinely guilty prisoner is executed by providing a much larger reward.