Texas Ends Last Supper Requests

The Texas prison system on Thursday abolished the practice of letting Death Row inmates choose their last meal. The inmates will now receive the same meal as their fellow prisoners. “Enough is enough,” said Texas State Sen. John Whitmire. Whitmire blasted the time-honored practice as “inappropriate,” given than many prisoners often choose an opulent final meal. The final straw was apparently when Texas inmate Lawrence Russell Brewer on Wednesday night ordered an elaborate meal consisting included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover's pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks—and when it arrived at his cell at 4 p.m., he declined it all, saying he wasn’t hungry. Most other states offer final meal requests, although many anti-death-penalty advocates say they are against the practice.