Texas kills fancy last meal requests on death row

[Uncle Remus]

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The Texas prison system on Thursday abolished the time-honored tradition of offering an opulent last meal to condemned inmates before their executions, saying they would get standard prison fare instead.

"Enough is enough," state Senator John Whitmire wrote on Thursday to prison officials, prompting the move. "It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It's a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim."

The letter was in apparent response to the dinner requested, but not eaten, by white supremacist Lawrence Brewer before he was put to death on Wednesday night for a notorious 1998 killing in which James Byrd Jr., a black man, was dragged behind a truck for several miles.

Brewer requested an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover's pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks.

When it arrived around 4 p.m. at Brewer's cell, he declined it all, telling prison officials he was not hungry.

Link

With all the hungry folks in Texas, it's about time! Too bad they can't bill him for that food he wasted.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Never made sense to me.

 

[msjprincess]

Brewer requested an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover's pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks.

What part of that meal is fancy or opulent?

 

[NY Disney fan]

Geez, if I was sentenced to die I would not have an appetite at all!

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

I've never gotten it either. PBJ is good enough to go on. As far as I can see, death row people haven't had a whole lot of consideration for other people in general, I'm not wasting any sympathy because they can't gorge themselves into a stupor before they go.

 

[FireDancer]

What part of that meal is fancy or opulent?

None of the items in isolation are either IMO but ordering them all, yeah, a bit much.

 

[dakcp2001]

What part of that meal is fancy or opulent?

Are you joking? The quantity. You must be joking.

 

[EMom]

What part of that meal is fancy or opulent?

Clearly, you were not raised on the delights of fried okra and ketchup, chicken fried steak and barbeque. And if he wasted RIBS, that alone ought to be a crime.

He was a waste of space anyway.

 

[NY Disney fan]

All death row candidates will now have a choice of:

Meal #1: Rice Cakes and Water

Meal #2: Gefilte fish and entrails

Meal #3: A pickle and vitamin

Death row inmate can also abstain if they choose.

 

[dakcp2001]

All death row candidates will now have a choice of:

Meal #1: Rice Cakes and Water

Meal #2: Gefilte fish and entrails

Meal #3: A pickle and vitamin

Death row inmate can also abstain if they choose.

I will take number 3 please. lol.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

All death row candidates will now have a choice of:

Meal #1: Rice Cakes and Water

Meal #2: Gefilte fish and entrails

Meal #3: A pickle and vitamin

Death row inmate can also abstain if they choose.

 

[akhenaten]

Brewer was disgusting... however I do think that the tradition of giving a condemned person a special last meal should be continued.

 

[msjprincess]

Are you joking? The quantity. You must be joking.

Yes it as a joke. The thread title mentions "fancy meals" and the article talks about chicken fried steak and okra.

 

[lizabu]

I think it makes sense that this has stopped. As they said in the article the victims had no such luxury. Just to see a person ordering all that food and then wasting it was just one last opportunity for this guy to be a jerk. Let him eat what all the other prisoners are eating. He had already been in prison for what, 13 years, eating, watching TV and whatever else prisoners do. Soaking up 13 years worth of tax payer money. Why should he soak the tax payers for and additional $60 or $70 worth of meals at the last meal? I think the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Actually the thread title refers to fancy last meal requests, which is ambiguous--it could also refer to the request being fancy.

 

[NY Disney fan]

Just to see a person ordering all that food and then wasting it was just one last opportunity for this guy to be a jerk.

He wasn't being a jerk. He probably got a supernatural glimpse of his future and then lost his appetite.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Brewer was disgusting... however I do think that the tradition of giving a condemned person a special last meal should be continued.

Any particular reason why they should have the last meal of their request?

 

[HM]

The amount of food the death row inmates were ordering was astonishing. They were ordering food enough for an athletic team. One entree and a couple sides, and dessert and a couple drinks would be a meal.

It's a shame the 'greed' of a few made it impossible for those that come after.

 

[MichelleVW]

Geez, if I was sentenced to die I would not have an appetite at all!

No kidding.....I'm pretty sure I would be sick to my stomach and no way could I eat.

Any particular reason why they should have the last meal of their request?

Seriously...these people are sentenced to die for a reason...and it's not a happy reason. Why should they get anything special?

 

[akhenaten]

Any particular reason why they should have the last meal of their request?

Because we are civilized...
it goes along with allowing them to visit with family before their death and also with humane execution IMO...