Frankly, I’m not sure what to think of this new move to banish last meals for Texas death row inmates. According to the article:
Death-row inmates headed to their executions will no longer be able to pick what they’d like for their last meal.
Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, issued this statement in response to concerns from Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire:
“I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.”
Here’s the original post about Whitmire’s concerns:
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, wants to end the practice of providing death-row inmates with whatever they’d like for their last meal.Whitmire – in a Thursday letter to Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — said he’s long been concerned about the practice and that the last straw was the Houston Chronicle’s report of Lawrence Russell Brewer ordering a huge last meal that he failed to eat.
The senator recounted Brewer’s order of two chicken fried steaks, a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a large bowl of fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, and a pound of barbecue with a half loaf of white bread, calling it “ridiculous.”
“I am asking that you end this practice immediately or I am prepared to do so by statute next session,” Whitmire wrote. “Death row inmates before execution should be fed the same meal as any other inmate on the unit the day of the scheduled execution.”
I don’t trust the government to get anything right – especially death. On the other hand, some crimes are so dastardly, such as the murder of children, that death isn’t quite enough for me – I want torture and death.
Americans overwhelmingly support the death penalty and I am inclined to support it too. But there is that niggling doubt in the back of my mind – the worry that maybe the wrong guy is about to be put down.
I really don’t see the harm in giving inmates a last meal of their choice. Some people abuse it, like this assclown who ordered more food than any person could eat. But the state could impose limits, if they chose. Instead, they go for the extreme, ending last meals entirely.
Part of why I don’t trust the state to get it right is because it is so extreme and capricious this way. They don’t see any nuance. It’s very concerning.
I totally concur that a limited menu of choice should be offered…instead of the daily scheduled fare. However, the ingestion of TEXAS TOAST should definitely be made mandatory!
Fer sur, Texas justice is sometimes very hard to swallow.