My friend told me about the time when a gunman robbed a wedding party. For the purpose of clarity we’ll call the desperado Edgar. He took everybody’s money and then killed the groom. He just shot the newly-wed man dead for no apparent reason.

Edgar fled into the nearby hills but a posse was able to follow his trail. Within a few days the posse found and captured the fleeing killer. On the trail back to town, Edgar somehow managed to grab a gun from a police officer’s holster and he shot the lawman dead.

Up until that time, Edgar had not been mistreated by the posse, although the majority wanted to "string him up" on the spot. But the cold-blooded murder of a policeman changed the posse’s attitude.

It was at this point that the posse made a decision. You may be sure that Edgar was returned to the local jail alive. But during the trial for two murders, Edgar was as harmless as a puppy. He would never again be a threat to anybody in the community.

As expected, he was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole. Actually, Edgar was hoping for the death penalty, but the authorities wanted him kept alive. They wanted him kept alive as an example to others.

School children frequently toured government offices. Many tours included the prison. Over the years, thousands of children saw Edgar in his one-man cage acting much like an animal.

Edgar ate his meals by putting his face directly into a food bowl. That was the only way he could eat. His right hand and all four fingers on his left hand had been cut off by the posse after he murdered the policeman.

"There wasn’t much difference between him and a dog," my friend said. "He served as an example of crime and punishment."

Did I mention that this all happened many years ago back in India?