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NEWS > U.S.A. > WITH FOOD GOING TO WASTE, TEXAS ELIMINATES FINAL MEAL FOR DEATH ROW INMATES
WITH FOOD GOING TO WASTE, TEXAS ELIMINATES FINAL MEAL FOR DEATH ROW INMATES
September 24 2011
Austin, TX – The idea behind offering a condemned man one last privilege dates back centuries. In the modern era it has become more luxurious, a meal of one’s choosing, but the tradition dates back a long way. The reason behind the tradition is simple; it allows us to feel more humane, and gives the condemned a sense that they are in fact still human, even in their final moments.
In Texas, the U.S. state with more executions than any other, that privilege has now been removed. In a controversial decision, the state has decided to end final meals for all death row inmates, giving them instead the normal menu choices.
That decision was prompted not out of cost savings, or as some new type of punishment regiment, but rather because much of the food was going to waste, expensive and exorbitant food for the most part. In particular, the decision was prompted by an indulgent request by Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed last Wednesday, which pushed official over the edge, who now believe that it is unreasonable to grant such requests, considering that much of the food is going to waste even while there are starving children all over the world.
“I believe Senator Whitmire's concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid," said Brad Livingston, executive director of the Department of Criminal Justice. "Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.” 
Brewer was executed for his part in the murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998. His final meal request included, amongst other things, two chicken fried steaks, a pizza, peanut butter fudge, and a half loaf of bread, far more than he could have eaten.
Officials also said that aside from the starving children all around the world who could benefit from such a meal, with only hours left to live the condemned would not receive the nutritional benefit from the food.
“No matter what a person did, offering them this last little bit of human compassion has been pretty universal. Sometimes it’s just a last cigarette or a final statement, but pretty much everyone does that when a person is about to die. Even the Nazis did that. Well, not with the Jews but with other people,” said Scrape TV American analyst Dave Davidson. “Taking that away does change the nature of capital punishment because it takes some of the civility out the process of killing a person, civility the condemned often didn’t show themselves. That said, it really is waste of food especially if little of it gets eaten.”
Officials did not discuss whether or not Brewer was a good eater with his regular meals.
“It would be especially bad if the prisoners took a little bite of everything, because that would make the food inedible for someone else. I mean even if they touched it, it would have to be thrown out usually and that really is wasteful,” continued Davidson. “Stopping these meals isn’t going to help any starving child anywhere in the world, that’s just the truth, but at the very least it will help the condemned to understand compassion for the wider world, something which will serve them well in their final hours on the planet.”
Executioner’s will still get their choice of meal before the final hour.
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
NEWS > U.S.A. > WITH FOOD GOING TO WASTE, TEXAS ELIMINATES FINAL MEAL FOR DEATH ROW INMATES
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