condemned prisoner Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

's last meal is a customary ritual preceding

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.

Contemporary restrictions in the United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, most states give the meal a day or two before execution and use the euphemism "special meal". Alcohol or

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

are usually, but not always, denied. Unorthodox or unavailable requests are replaced with similar substitutes. Some states place tight restrictions. In

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the food for the last meal must be purchased locally and the cost is limited to $40. In Oklahoma, the cost is limited to $25. In

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, the

prison warden The warden ( US, Canada) or governor ( UK, Australia), also known as a superintendent (US, South Asia) or director (UK, New Zealand), is the official who is in charge of a prison. Name In the United States and Canada, warden is the most common ...

traditionally joins the condemned prisoner for the last meal. On one occasion, the warden paid for an inmate's lobster dinner. Sometimes, a prisoner asks to share the last meal with another inmate (as

Francis Crowley Francis Crowley (October 31, 1912 – January 21, 1932) was an American murderer. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department on May 7, 1931, that was witnessed by 15,000 bys ...

did with John Resko) or has the meal distributed among other inmates (as requested by Raymond Fernandez). In September 2011, the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

abolished all special last meal requests after condemned prisoner and white supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a large and expensive last meal, but did not eat any of it, stating that he was not hungry. The tradition of customized last meals is thought to have been established around 1924 in Texas.

Documented last meal requests

This represents the items reported requested but does not, in all cases, represent what the prisoner actually received.

Europe

Asia

North America

Canada

United States

(*) Texas abolished last meal requests in 2011, so all death row inmates in Texas after 2011 were given normal prison food.

References

External links

* Greene, Bob (12 June 2001)
They didn't get to choose their last meals
''Jewish World Review''. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. * Karon, Tony (10 August 2000)

''TIME Magazine''. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. * Stein, Joel (18 October 2007)

''TIME Magazine''. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
Famous Last Meals
''Portraits of Last Requests''. Retrieved on 2010-09-17.

''Texas Department of Criminal Justice'' (12 September 2003). Archived fro

on 2003-12-02. Retrieved on 2011-03-17.
Last Meals
''rotten dot com''. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
Last Meals: What Would You Order?
''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976. The newspaper ...

'' (18 June 2010). Retrieved on 2010-06-24.
Last Meals on Death Row (since 2002)
''Dead Man Eating''. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
Top 10 Death Row Last Meal Requests from Texas
. ''Zombie Popcorn'' (9 October 2008) Retrieved on 2010-09-29. {{CapPun-US Capital punishment Death customs Meals Prison food