Death row killer’s last meal demand that forced prisons to change the rules
admin 8 hours agoNew York StateComments Off on Death row killer’s last meal demand that forced prisons to change the rules0 Views
It’s been a long-standing tradition, allowing death row inmates to request and eat a final meal on the night before their execution. But back in 2011, Texas prison officials decided to stop making the offer following outrage over one condemned man’s request that caused no end of controversy. The decision came within hours of the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer, whose actions – and the fallout from them – prompted calls from state lawmakers to end the practice. Within days the Texas Department of Criminal Justice publicly confirmed that no prisoner would ever again be offered a special meal before being put to death there, ending a practice that had endured for decades in the state’s death chamber. (Pictures: Getty Images)
For decades, condemned prisoners in Texas had been allowed one last meal of their choosing before being sent to the chair or facing lethal injection. The custom dated back generations, offering inmates a small act of ritual or comfort in their final hours. Requests varied widely – from simple plates of eggs to steak, cheeseburgers or home cooking-style pork chops. The food was prepared in the Huntsville Unit’s kitchen, which also serves the state’s death chamber. Prison officials said the requests were met ‘within reason’ and drawn from what was available. But that courtesy ended abruptly after Brewer’s execution in 2011.(Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Lawrence Russell Brewer, 44, was a self-declared white supremacist sentenced to death for one of the most infamous hate crimes in modern Texan history. Convicted in 1999, he was one of three men found guilty of the brutal 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr., a black man from Jasper, TX. Brewer’s case drew national condemnation and remains one of the most disturbing examples of racial violence in modern United States history. After more than a decade on death row, he was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on September 21, 2011. (Picture: REUTERS)
On the night of June 7, 1998, James Byrd Jr. accepted a ride from three white men in Jasper, Texas – Brewer, John William King and Shawn Berry. The men attacked Byrd, beat him and chained him by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck. They dragged him for nearly three miles along a rural road. The killing was instantly recognised as racially motivated, shocking the nation and renewing debate over hate crime laws. Byrd’s body was discovered the next morning, sparking vigils, protests and understandably widespread public outrage. (Picture: AP)
Brewer (centre, back) and King (centre, front), both known white supremacists, were sentenced to death for the murder, while Berry received a life sentence. Prosecutors said that the crime was designed to terrorize the black community and assert racist ideology. The brutality of the attack led to widespread and sweeping legal reform, inspiring the passage of federal hate crime legislation named in Byrd’s memory. For more than a decade, Brewer appealed unsuccessfully against his conviction. When his final execution date was set, he used his last opportunity to make a statement. Not in words but – weirdly – through food. (Picture: AP)
Before his execution at the Huntsville Unit, Brewer submitted a really rather elaborate final meal order. Prison staff prepared – as requested – the following (get ready for this): Two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and onions, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelette with beef and vegetables, a pound of barbecued meat with white bread, three fajitas, a meat-lover’s pizza, fried okra, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts and three root beers. Quite the spread, eh? (Pictures: Getty Images)
When the meal arrived at 4pm, Brewer immediately refused it. He told guards he wasn’t hungry, leaving every single dish completely untouched. The trays of food, piled high and uneaten, soon became a symbol of outrage for officials and the public. Within hours, Brewer’s actions were seen not just as wasteful but as something of a mockery of the system. The image of a condemned man guilty of a heinous and community-enraging crime ordering a banquet he never intended to eat was enough to trigger political intervention in one of the state’s oldest execution customs. (Picture: AP)
That intervention came from on high. It was no less than State Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, who demanded that the practice end immediately. ‘Enough is enough,’ he said. ‘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.’ In both a phone call and a letter to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Whitmire called the last meal policy ‘inappropriate’ and said he would push legislation to abolish it if officials failed to act. (Picture: Corbis via Getty Images)
Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, replied the same day. ‘I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid,’ he said. Livingston confirmed that, effective immediately, death row inmates would ‘receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.’ The change brought an abrupt end to a tradition that had existed in Texas for decades, from the era of the electric chair to the modern execution chamber over at Huntsville. (Picture: Corbis via Getty Images)
Whitmire later said his stance was about principle, not cost. ‘He never gave his victim an opportunity for a last meal,’ he said. ‘Why in the world are you going to treat him like a celebrity two hours before you execute him?’ Others disagreed. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, called the decision petty, saying: ‘Inmates would much prefer a last lawyer to a last meal.’ Brewer’s untouched feast marked the end of an era. Ironically making sure than Texan death row killers only received their just desserts from then on. (Picture: Corbis via Getty Images)
![CORRECTION / The Huntsville Unit prison in Huntsville, Texas, is seen on September 14, 2024. Prison cells so hot that inmates splash themselves with toilet water. Jails described as ovens where convicts are baked to death. An advocacy organization is suing the southern US state of Texas to mandate air conditioning for tens of thousands of inmates, arguing that temperatures reaching 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Farenheit), according to convicts, are cruel and unconstitutional. The suit, filed by Texas Prisons Community Advocates, follows three inmate deaths in the state's prison system in 2023 that officials admitted were partly due to extreme heat. (Photo by Francois PICARD / AFP) / "The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo by Francois PICARD has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [Huntsville Unite] instead of [Wynne Unit ]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention from all your online services and delete it from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require." (Photo by FRANCOIS PICARD/AFP via Getty Images)](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SEI_272028773-15af.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
