last meal
{{Short description|Meal preceding one's execution}}
{{Worldwide view|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Redirect|Last meals|a list of last meals|List of last meals}}
A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.
Contemporary restrictions in the United States
Contrary to the common belief that all last meal requests, regardless of their complexity, must be fulfilled, various restrictions are in place over what can be requested.{{Cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=David |date=October 30, 2014 |title=Death Row Inmate Asks for a Child As His Last Meal, Texas DOC Plan to Grant Request? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-two-misstep/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |website=Snopes}}{{Cite news |last=Beam |first=Christopher |date=November 10, 2009 |title=I'll Have 24 Tacos and the Filet Mignon |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/11/can-a-prisoner-request-anything-for-his-last-meal.html |access-date=June 25, 2024 |work=Slate}}
In the United States, most states give the meal a day or two before the actual execution and now use the euphemism "special meal". Alcohol and tobacco are usually, but not always, denied. Unorthodox or unavailable requests are replaced with similar substitutes. Some states place tight restrictions. Sometimes, a prisoner asks to share the last meal with another inmate (as Francis Crowley did with John Resko in 1932) or has the meal distributed among other inmates (as requested by Raymond Fernandez in 1951).{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesalmanacpr03wall |title=The Book of Lists #3 |publisher=Bantam |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-553-27868-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/peoplesalmanacpr03wall/page/85 85–87] |url-access=registration}}
In Florida, the food for the last meal must be purchased locally and the cost is limited to $40.{{cite web|title=Death Row Fact Sheet |work=Florida Department of Corrections |url=http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/deathrow/index.html |access-date=11 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612151254/http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/deathrow/index.html |archive-date=12 June 2008 }} In Oklahoma, the cost is limited to $25. In Louisiana, the prison warden traditionally joins the condemned prisoner for the last meal. On one occasion, the warden paid for an inmate's lobster dinner.{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Allan|date=2011-09-23|title=Last-meal requests come to an end on Texas death row|url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Last-meal-requests-come-to-an-end-on-Texas-death-2184484.php|work=Houston Chronicle|access-date=23 September 2011|archive-date=24 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924080519/http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Last-meal-requests-come-to-an-end-on-Texas-death-2184484.php|url-status=live}}
In Texas, the tradition of customized last meals is thought to have been established around 1924.{{cite web |date=2011-09-22 |title=Last-meal requests off death row menu |work=San Antonio Express-News |url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Last-meal-tradition-for-death-row-inmates-2184368.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925012525/http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Last-meal-tradition-for-death-row-inmates-2184368.php |archive-date=25 September 2011 |access-date=25 September 2011}} However, in September 2011, the state of Texas abolished all special meal requests after condemned prisoner Lawrence Brewer requested a large and expensive meal, but did not eat any of it, stating that he was not hungry. Since then, the prisoner's last meal is the prison meal that is being served in the Huntsville Unit cafeteria on the day of execution.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z13UwA9UzeY&t=621s | title=Death Row the Final 24 Hours Documentary & Discovery HD Channel Official | website=YouTube | date=24 April 2015 }}
Documented last meal requests
{{further|List of last meals}}
See also
{{Portal|Food|Law}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Further reading
- Treadwell, Ty and Vernon, Michelle (2011) Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row
- {{cite book | last=Van Dülmen | first=Richard | year=1990 | title=Theatre of Horror : Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Germany | publisher=Cambridge | isbn=978-0-7456-0616-3}}
- {{cite book | last=Foucault | first=Michel | year=1977 | title=Discipline & Punish : The Birth of the Prison | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing | url=https://archive.org/details/discipl_fou_1995_00_1646 | url-access=registration | isbn=978-0-679-75255-4}}
- {{cite book | last=Von Hentig |first=Hans | year=1973 | title=Punishment – Its Origin, Purpose, and Psychology |publisher=Patterson Smith | isbn=978-0-87585-147-1}}
- {{cite book|last=Osler|first=Mark|title=Jesus on Death Row: The Trial of Jesus and American Capital Punishment|publisher=Abingdon Press|location=Nashville, Tennessee|date=February 2009|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jesusondeath_osle_2009_000_10461167/page/n76 63]–67|chapter=Ch. 7: Last Meal / Last Supper|isbn=978-0-687-64756-9|url=https://archive.org/details/jesusondeath_osle_2009_000_10461167|url-access=registration}}
- {{cite journal|author=Jones, Michael Owen|title=Dining on Death Row: Last Meals and the Crutch of Ritual|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=127|issue=503|pages=3–26|doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.127.503.0003|jstor=10.5406/jamerfolk.127.503.0003 |year=2014|s2cid=144164543}}
External links
- Greene, Bob (12 June 2001). [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/bob/greene061201.asp They didn't get to choose their last meals]. Jewish World Review. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- Karon, Tony (10 August 2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20011221001532/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,52337,00.html Why We're Fascinated by Death Row Cuisine]. TIME Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- Stein, Joel (18 October 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20071021030329/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1673252,00.html You Eat What You Are]. TIME Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- [http://www.famouslastmeals.com/ Famous Last Meals]. Portraits of Last Requests. Retrieved on 2010-09-17.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20031202214318/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/finalmeals.htm Final Meal Requests]. Texas Department of Criminal Justice (12 September 2003). Archived from [http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/finalmeals.htm the original] on 2003-12-02. Retrieved on 2011-03-17.
- [http://www.rotten.com/library/death/execution/last-meals/ Last Meals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212020307/http://www.rotten.com/library/death/execution/last-meals/ |date=12 February 2017 }}. rotten dot com. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100622070723/http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2010/06/last_meals_what_would_you_orde.php Last Meals: What Would You Order?] Seattle Weekly (18 June 2010). Retrieved on 2010-06-24.
- [http://www.deadmaneating.com/ Last Meals on Death Row (since 2002)]. Dead Man Eating. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- [http://zombie-popcorn.com/?p=317 Top 10 Death Row Last Meal Requests from Texas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117055050/http://zombie-popcorn.com/?p=317 |date=17 November 2011 }}. Zombie Popcorn (9 October 2008) Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
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