I know what to do. We can just serve them British food.
Posted on 09/22/2011 1:46:21 PM PDT by Red Badger
Death-row inmates headed to their executions will no longer be able to pick what they’d like for their last meal.
Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, issued this statement in response to concerns from Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire:
“I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.”
Here’s the original post about Whitmire’s concerns: Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, wants to end the practice of providing death-row inmates with whatever they’d like for their last meal.
Whitmire – in a Thursday letter to Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — said he’s long been concerned about the practice and that the last straw was the Houston Chronicle’s report of Lawrence Russell Brewer ordering a huge last meal that he failed to eat.
The senator recounted Brewer’s order of two chicken fried steaks, a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a large bowl of fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, and a pound of barbecue with a half loaf of white bread, calling it “ridiculous.”
“I am asking that you end this practice immediately or I am prepared to do so by statute next session,” Whitmire wrote. “Death row inmates before execution should be fed the same meal as any other inmate on the unit the day of the scheduled execution.”
I’ve emailed TDCJ’s spokeswoman to ask for a comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.chron.com ...
I never thought about what I would order as a last meal. Probably fried chicken, greens, and bananna pudding—comfort food I grew up with.
“Have some mercy and grant a dying man’s wish. (Yes, within reason, of course.) It’s good for us all.”
Sure, if the criminal granted this last request to the victims he brutally murdered. Otherwise, screw ‘em.
Give them their last meal. They wont cost us taxpayer money any longer.
Just as long as you don't include a toy. Don't want to get anyone in SF upset.
Really? For a death row inmate?
How would this kind of "publicity" hurt the prison's bottom line?
Give them a bologna and cheese sandwich, a small bag of Lay's and a Coke with a cookie for desert.
Then encourage them to make their peace with God before "throwing the switch".
In China if a death row inmate refuses to eat his last meal he’s told just think of all the little children in America don’t have ANYTHING to eat.
Mexico provides a pittance to the support of prisoners, but permits family or other concerned parties to improve prisoners’ lot. Even conjugal visits can be arranged. Mexico doesn’t (officially) do executions any more, so it’s not completely comparable. But they reflect their Roman Catholic Christian background in being relatively humane to their prisoners.
How about the tuba playing that tune that they used to play on cartoons when fat characters were walking?
Just imagine what that must have done to his cholesterol.
I think the straw that broke the camel’s back on this one was the request for a cake topped with a wall cutting laser. It’s what I would go for.
**SNORT!** Good one!
I think they should bring back gladiatorial sports using death rowers and lifers.
Quite often, the family or families of the victims will have already sued the pants off the prisoner.
John Whitmire is kind of an ass.
I'm surprised the TDCJ immediately caved in to his demand like that.
LOL!
Seems fair to me. I doubt victims are given a choice for their last meal.
“John Whitmire is kind of an ass.”
Good. We need more like him in charge and fewer hand-wringing sentimentalists.
Usually the victims’ families recoup if possible, even including punitive damages (as if a fine on top of a death sentence means anything).
It would be well to look into how this became a nearly worldwide tradition. Christianity, in which you do not believe, has a lot to do with it.
“Seems fair to me. I doubt victims are given a choice for their last meal.”
usually the only choice is between lying face down in a pool of their own blood or someone else’s blood.
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