In the United States, most states give the meal a day or two before execution and use the
euphemism "special meal". Alcohol or tobacco are usually denied. Unorthodox or unavailable requests are replaced with substitutes. Some states place tight restrictions. In Florida, the food for the last meal must be purchased locally and the cost is limited to $40.
[3] In Oklahoma, cost is limited to $15. 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.
[4]
Sometimes, a prisoner shares the last meal with another inmate (as
Francis Crowley did with John Resko) or has the meal distributed among other inmates (as requested by
Raymond Fernandez).
[5]
In September 2011, the state of Texas abolished all special last-meal requests after condemned prisoner
Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a huge last meal and did not eat any of it, saying he was not hungry. His last-meal request was for a plate of two
chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, a bowl of fried
okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecued meat with half of a loaf of white bread, a portion of three
fajitas, a
meat-lover’s pizza (topped with
pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon, and sausage), a
pint of
Blue Bell, a serving of ice cream, a slab of
peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts, and a serving equivalent to three
root beers (normally non-alcoholic). The abolition followed a complaint by a
Texas Senator,
John Whitmire (Democrat, of Houston), who called the meal "inappropriate".
[6][7][8][9] The tradition of customized last meals is thought to have been established around 1924 in Texas.
[10]
