Last meal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The last meal is a traditional part of a condemned prisoner's last day. The day before the appointed time of execution, the prisoner will be given the meal, as well as religious rites, if he or she desires.

In many countries the prisoner may have the luxury of selecting what the last meal will be (within reason), and the authorities do their best to provide a prisoner with the requested meal.

1 History
2 Restrictions
3 Famous last meals
4 Miscellany
5 Notes
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] History

Although the history of the tradition of giving a prisoner condemned to capital punishment a last meal is difficult to assess, most modern governments which execute prisoners subscribe to it.

The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans all had a tradition of giving the condemned man a final meal. The Aztecs fed their human sacrifices for up to a year before their death.

In pre-modern Europe, the ritual of granting the malefactor a last meal has its seeds in common superstition: a meal was a highly symbolic social act. Accepting food, which was offered freely, meant to make one's peace with the host - the guest agreed tacitly to take an oath of truce and symbolically abjured all vengeance. Consequentially, in accepting the last meal the condemned was believed to forgive the executioner, the judge, and the witnessing mob. The ritual was supposed to prevent the delinquent from haunting those people, who were responsible for his or her killing, as a ghost or a revenant. The meal was therefore mainly a superstitious precaution and - following that logic - the better the food and the drinks, the safer the condemned's oath of truce. Last meals were often public and all parties, which were involved in the penal process, took part.

There were some practical side effects of a peaceful last meal as well - it was crucial for the authorities that a public execution was a successful spectacle. In the eyes of the contemporaries the violated law could only be restored by mirroring the crime via retaliative penalties (see lex talionis). However, if the mob had the impression that something was wrong and the chief character of the show was reluctant to play his or her role, things could get out of hand and the malefactor's guilt was in doubt. Hence it was most important for the authorities that the condemned met his or her fate calmly. Apart from having been constantly coerced since the death sentence, the poor sinner's solemn last meal was a significant symbol for the mob that he or she finally accepted the punishment. Additionally, delinquents were often served large quantities of alcoholic beverages to soothe them and bar them from execrating the authorities while ascending the scaffold - which would have been considered a bad omen.

[edit] Restrictions

In the United States of America most states give the meal a day or two prior to execution, and use the euphemism "special meal". Alcohol or tobacco is usually denied. An unorthodox or unavailable request will be substituted. Some states place tight restrictions: all food must come from within the prison system in Texas^[1] and Maryland does not offer the condemned a special last meal.

[edit] Famous last meals

Wesley Baker: Breaded fish, pasta marinara, green beans, orange fruit punch, bread, and milk. (Maryland execution; this was what was on the normal prison menu that day)
Ted Bundy: Steak (medium rare), eggs over easy, hash browns and coffee. (He refused it.)
Victor Feguer: A single olive.
John Wayne Gacy: Fried chicken, fried shrimp, french fries, and fresh strawberries.
Gary Gilmore: Hamburger, eggs, a baked potato, coffee and three shots of whiskey.
Timothy McVeigh: Two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream. (Ben & Jerrys)
Josh Cooper: Taco Bell's Cheesey Stuffed Potato and 1/2 Pound Bean Burrito Especial with no onions.
Alyssa Hasell: Banana pudding and green beans.
Perry Smith and Richard Hickock: Shrimp, french fries, garlic bread, ice cream and strawberries with whipped cream.
Adolf Eichmann: Half a bottle of Carmel (a dry red Israeli wine).
Bruno Richard Hauptmann: Celery, olives, chicken, french fries, buttered peas, cherries and a slice of cake.
Velma Barfield: A bag of Cheez Doodles and a can of Coca-Cola.
Morris O’Dell Mason: Four McDonalds Big Macs, two large fries, two hot fudge sundaes, a hot apple pie and two large soft drinks.
Henry Martinez Porter: Steak, refried beans, jalapeño peppers, flour tortillas, salad, ice cream and chocolate cake.
James E. Smith: A small cup of yogurt.
Leon Jerome Moser: A large cheese pizza, cheese slices, cold cuts, pasta salad, iced cup cakes and a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.
Gary Heidnik: Two slices of a cheese pizza and two cups of black coffee.
Joan of Arc: Holy Communion.
Aileen Wuornos: Declined, but received a cup of coffee.
Billy Bailey: Well-done steak, a baked potato with sour cream and butter, buttered rolls, peas and vanilla ice cream.

[edit] Miscellany

In the Fox animated series King of the Hill; Dale, Bill, Boomhauer and Kahn briefly created a "last meal club" in the realization that a condemned prisoner ate better than they did. They were eventually frightened away by the morbid nature of the meal and a feeling that they were tempting fate.
An episode of the 1972 series The ABC Comedy Hour featured a sketch with Frank Gorshin imitating James Cagney as a condemned prisoner and Rich Little imitating James Stewart as a prison warden. When Little (as Stewart) told Gorshin he could have anything he wanted for his last meal, Gorshin (as Cagney) ordered "about a thousand" hummingbird tongues.
With the advent of the Internet, a number of people seemed to become interested in what the typically requested last meals were. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice used to make available the list of the requested last meal of recent inmates, and whether the request was fulfilled. The list has since been terminated but most of the entries can still be accessed at The Memory Hole.
In the movie Frankie and Johnny Al Pacino play as an released prison chef who used to make prison dinner and last meal for deathrow inmates.

[edit] Notes

^ "The Last Supper", Legal Affairs, March/April 2004

[edit] Further reading

Richard van Duelmen (1990). Theatre of Horror. Cambridge.
Foucault, Michel (1977). Discipline & Punish : The Birth of the Prison. ISBN 0-679-75255-2.
Hans von Hentig (1973). Punishment - Its Origin, Purpose, and Psychology. ISBN 0-87585-147-9.