As a native speaker, I don’t think the phrasing is idiomatic but I read it to mean imprisoned or otherwise out of society without actually being dead.

(Native speaker) Wrong, but the intent was clearly that they were out of it for whatever reason. And since the true purpose of language is to communicate and it does that is it truly wrong?

It doesn't mean anything, because it is wrong. The correct idiom is "death before dishonor", which means that one would choose death instead of doing something disgraceful/shameful.