The concept of a ‘last meal’ is one of the more curious aspects of the US justice system, which allows prisoners on death row to order a final bespoke meal the night before their execution.
Although the practice varies from state to state, inmates are usually told to prepare a menu in advance and typically ask for a mountain of junk food - including pizza, hamburgers, fried chicken, and steak, along with heaps of chocolate and ice cream for dessert.
Different states have different rules - some enforce a strict $40 limit on an inmate’s requests, while others insist that all food must be bought and prepared locally in order to prevent prisoners from requesting overly-exotic and expensive foods.
But over in Texas, last meals have been scrapped altogether, after a condemned prisoner took advantage of a loophole to spite his captors one last time before they executed him.
Lawrence Russell Brewer was a white supremacist who was sentenced to death for the racially-motivated killing of James Byrd Jr, who he murdered with the help of three accomplices by dragging him along behind a pick-up truck for three miles along a road.
Brewer and his accomplices were the first white men to receive the death penalty in Texas for the murder of a Black man, and after 21 years on death row, he was finally executed in 2011.
As was standard practice at the time, shortly before his execution Brewer was asked what he wanted for his final meal, and responded with an absolutely enormous mountain of food.
According to a report from the New York Times, Brewer was served two chicken fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, and a cheese omelet with beef mince, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos.
But that wasn’t all. In addition, he was also served a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread, three fajitas, and a meat pizza.
For dessert, he was given a pint of 'homemade vanilla' Blue Bell ice cream, one slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, and three root beers to wash it all down with.
All in all, it sounds like a meal fit for a king- or it would’ve been if he’d decided to eat any of it.
As it transpired, Brewer didn’t eat a single bite of his elaborate last meal, and only ordered the mountain of food to spite the justice system one last time before they killed him.
Texas lawmakers were so outraged by the disrespect that the practice of last meals was scrapped altogether following his death, with State Senator John Whitmire calling for an immediate ban after claiming Brewer’s actions “made a mockery” of the system.
Senator Whitmire reportedly said in a statement: “He never gave his victim an opportunity for a last meal. Why in the world are you going to treat him like a celebrity two hours before you execute him?"
“It’s wrong to treat a vicious murderer in this fashion. Let him eat the same meal on the chow line as the others," he added.
Effective immediately, everyone on death row in Texas would eat the same food everybody else did, straight from the prison canteen.
And as for Brewer himself, he remained unrepentant 'til the very end. Speaking KHOU 11 News in Houston the day before his death, he said, per Huffpost: “As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets.
“No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth.”
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