Texas, one of the 34 states with the death penalty, has decided to stop giving special last meals to death row inmates prior to execution. Wednesday night’s execution of Lawrence Brewer, one of three white supremacists who killed James Byrd Jr. in 1998 by dragging him behind a pick-up truck until he was decapitated, saw the final last meal granted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The Houston Press reports that when Senator John Whitmire learned that Brewer ordered everything he could possibly think of (a rotten soul to the end), he wrote a letter to the TDCJ requesting that they immediately stop the practice. So it’s not that Texas has an issue with serving one last meal to someone who may have committed an act so grisly that they’ve been sentenced to die for it, it’s because they don’t want the meal to be obnoxiously decadent.
Here’s an idea. Instead of going to such extreme measures, how about just regulating what inmates can order. If they’re really serious about it, make a numbered menu and limit inmates to one selection. If they really want to be harsh, they can introduce the Death Row Dollar Menu.
[viaGawker]
