Although the tradition of death row inmates having one final blowout meal before they are given their long-anticipated punishment is dying out, around 12 states have kept the custom - but there is one menu item that is completely off limits.

A study by Cornell University on the most popular last-meal requests found that junk food, such as hamburgers, fries, pizzas, and fried chicken, was the most frequently requested luxury.

It is thought that fried food is highly requested as it is often nostalgic, simple, and a luxury that would not be too much of a shock to the taste buds or gut after years of eating canteen food in a high-security prison.

Burgers are one of the most frequently requested final meals. Credit: Alexander Spatari / Getty

Foods high in fat and sodium also release dopamine, which may help mask the nerves of someone who knows their life will be ending in a matter of hours.

What is the one luxury completely off limits?

Ice cream, apple pies, and cake are commonly requested for dessert, and many inmates request soda to accompany their final meal, but the one thing that they will always be denied is alcohol.

The vast majority of prisons consider any form of alcoholic beverage as contraband, so it is strictly forbidden inside.

Booze has been banned behind bars for so long that the last death row prisoner to be given the luxury of a “nip of brandy” was Manuel Fernandez in 1835. He was also granted a few tokes on a cigar as he took his last breaths.

Unsurprisingly, cigarettes and tobacco are also prohibited.

Why did Texas ban the last meal tradition?

The reason some states have abolished the final meal tradition altogether is that a handful of prisoners took complete advantage and ordered in absolute excess.

In 2011, Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was incarcerated over a racially motivated murder, ordered such a massive amount of food that it ultimately led to the prison scrapping the last meal tradition entirely.

Texas has completely banned the final meal tradition. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

The convicted murderer notoriously requested: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, peppers and jalapenos; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with all the trimmings; a Meat Lovers pizza; one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge; and three root beers.

When the food arrived, Brewer refused to eat any of it, telling prison staff he wasn't hungry.

Outraged by the waste and the manipulation of the system, Texas Senator John Whitmire pressured the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to end the traditional "last meal" privilege.

Featured image credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

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.

Credit: Texas Department of Criminal JusticeLawrence 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.

Credit: Wirestock, Inc. / AlamyBut 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.

Huntsville Unit, Texas State Penitentiary. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / AlamySenator 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.”

Featured image credit: Mirco Gabriel / Alamy

If you could have absolutely anything as your last meal on this mortal plane, what would it be? Personally, as a non-meat-eater, I think I'd go for the best lab-grown steak money could buy, accompanied by an uncomfortably large portion of fries and onion rings (all smothered in cheese and peppercorn sauce, of course), and then rounded off with a literal pile of tiramisu, banoffee pie, and chocolate lava cake.

Because if I'm going to go out anyway, I might as well go out on a meal that could kill me in its own right.

Last meal requests are a real thing, of course - albeit very few of them are ever as extravagant as my insane concoction. What with various restrictions and regulations, death row inmates who are entitled to last meals cannot ask for anything too zany.

And yet, this one guy managed to push the boat out pretty far with his menu order.

Keith Leroy Tharpe, who was due to be executed last September for the 1991 murder of Jacquelin Freeman, put in a particularly extreme request for his last meal - the details of which have recently been released. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, "Tharpe requested a last meal of three spicy chicken breasts, roast beef sandwich with sauce, fish sandwich, tater logs, onion rings, apple pie, and a vanilla milkshake."

Because of Georgia's comparatively lax rules on last meal requests, Tharpe's request was granted - but not every state is quite so generous. Florida prisons, for example, stipulate a $40 budget for inmates' final meals. Texas, by contrast, has no limit on the cost of a meal; however, anything an inmate orders must be prepared on-site in the prison.

And yet, even with all the strict guidelines that must be followed, some former death row inmates managed to have even stranger last meals.

Steven Woods, who was executed for a double homicide in Texas in 2011, consumed a mighty feast for his final meal. He chowed down on a large pizza, four fried chicken breasts, two pounds of bacon, five chicken fried steaks, two bacon hamburgers, a dozen garlic bread sticks, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer, sweet tea, and two pints of ice cream.

Unsurprisingly, Texas implemented their 'no external food' rule shortly after this.

Even more extravagant than that, however, was Robert Dale Conklin's last meal in 2005. The murderer was granted his final request of bacon-wrapped filet mignon, garlic shrimp, a baked potato with butter, sour cream, chives and bacon, corn on the cob, asparagus, bread and butter, goats cheese, a whole melon, some apple pie, iced tea, and vanilla ice cream.

Perhaps the weirdest request of all, though, was that of James Edward Smith. In 1990, he asked for a "lump of dirt." Unfortunately for him, the prison wouldn't allow it, so he settled for a yoghurt instead.

So, while Tharpe's recent request may have been particularly extra (seriously, who could stomach all those different types of food in one sitting), it's certainly not the strangest we've ever heard of. At the time of writing, Tharpe is still on death row, as his execution was stayed at the last minute.

The final meal for a US death row inmate in the 1990s has left many scratching their heads, decades on from his execution.

It's the 2020s, and the death penalty is less common than ever before, with over half of the world's nations choosing to abolish the punishment.

Just a quarter of nations continue to execute prisoners for their crimes, though it is usually only those who commit the worst of crimes who are sentenced to death.

As gruesome as the methods can be, those on death row are usually given one final choice before their life ends.

Many are interested in what prisoners choose for their final meals, with some inmates choosing specially prepared meals that may have been a favorite when they were on the outside.

But on occasion, there are some meal choices which can leave many confused, and this might be the most peculiar of them all.

James Edward Smith didn't request a type of food for his final meal. Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

James Edward Smith's final meal

Smith was executed by lethal injection for murder at the age of 37, back in April 1990.

The US citizen was found guilty of fatally shooting insurance executive Larry D. Rohus during a robbery of a second-floor cashier's office, located near the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, on March 7, 1983.

Smith initially requested a lump of rhaeakunda dirt for his final meal, an odd ask at first, until it was found that this specific dirt was used in voodoo rituals.

The inmate thought it may help him in reincarnation, but the Texas Department of Criminal Justice denied Smith's request.

In the end, Smith settled for a cup of yoghurt.

Despite his execution being scheduled for 1988, the date was pushed back after his mom's lawyers appealed for a stay of execution.

As for his trial, Smith tried to escape during the jury selection process, running from the courthouse, though he would be captured a few blocks away before being put back into custody.

He would be found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, with his appeals proving unsuccessful as the sentence was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1987.

Final meals are becoming less common. Credit: Mike Simons/Getty

Some states have abolished final meals

As reported by AP News, Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10PM on Thursday, June 25, following a lethal injection carried out at Florida State Prison near Starke.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Spencer's final meal consisted of pizza, French fries and a milkshake.

He had been sentenced to death for fatally stabbing his wife, Karen Spencer, in January 1992.

Death row inmates in Florida are permitted to request one final meal before their execution, although the state places a $40 limit on the order and requires the food to be purchased locally.

Florida's policy differs from Texas, where officials ended the practice of allowing inmates to choose their last meal in 2011. The decision followed the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer.

Per NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, he requested an enormous meal that included two chicken fried steaks, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pound of barbecue and a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, only to refuse to eat any of it.

Featured image credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Death row inmates in Texas no longer get a final meal before their execution - and it's down to a white supremacist's shocking request.

For many years, last meals have been a customary ritual before prisoners have their death sentence carried out.

Some convicts' requests have been pretty specific, like when John Wayne Gacy asked for 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe KFC, french fries, and a pound of strawberries. Others have been simple, like Ted Bundy requesting steak and eggs.

However, one inmate named Lawrence Russell Brewer - who was a white supremacist - requested an outrageous special meal before his death, and this led to Texas abolishing last meals for other death row inmates.

Brewer, 44, was imprisoned on June 7, 1998, along with John William King and Shawn Allen Berry for murdering a Black man named James Byrd Jr.

The group of men killed Byrd by torturing him before chaining him by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him behind it for three miles, per The Mirror.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: "Brewer and his co-defendants then dragged the victim to his death, leaving his decapitated and dismembered body to be found the following day by citizens and law enforcement officials," as cited by the outlet.

Brewer and King were convicted of capital murder and sent to death row, making them the first white men to receive the death penalty for killing a Black man in Texas, causing the state to introduce new laws around hate crimes. Meanwhile, Berry received a life sentence for his involvement in the crime.

It was contended in court that the three men carried out their disturbing criminal act "in part, due to their racially separatist affiliation with the Confederate Knights of America and the Ku Klux Klan," per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 

Before his execution, Brewer took full advantage of the last meal request, asking for a wild concoction of foods, including chicken steaks, fried okra with ketchup, and a cheese omelet with ground beef, jalapenos, and bell peppers.

It didn't end there as he also requested a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas with all the trimmings, one pound of barbecue and a half loaf of white bread, pizza meat lover's special, one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge, and three root beers.

The guards did their best to fulfill Brewer's final meal list but, when the prisoner was presented with it, he refused to eat a single mouthful, saying that he wasn't hungry.

Brewer's refusal resulted in Texan Senator John Whitmire ending the 87-year-old tradition, meaning from that day forward, nobody on death row in Texas has had a last meal request granted.

He wrote a letter to the executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Division, stating: "Enough is enough...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," per the BBC.

He called the last meal request an "extremely inappropriate" privilege, adding: "One which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim."

After spending 12 years of his life on death row, Brewer was executed via lethal injection on September 21, 2011. Asked if he had any final words, he replied: "No. I have no final statement," and was pronounced dead at 6.21PM.

The victim's two sisters and a niece called the execution "the next step to total justice for James," as cited by Reuters.

"Hopefully, today we have been reminded that racial hatred and prejudice can lead to tragic consequences for both the victim and his family, as well as the perpetrator and his family," Clara Taylor, Byrd's sister, said. "Our sincere condolences to the family of Lawrence Brewer."

Featured image credit: Buck Kelly / Getty