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Thread: Why are we fascinated with death-row meals?

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Thomas Paul West Skips Best Part of Being Executed by the State: The Food

    After more than 20 years on Arizona's Death Row, convicted murderer Thomas Paul West was executed this morning at the state prison in Florence. According to prison officials, West didn't have any last words. He also skipped the best part about getting executed: the food.

    Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux says West declined his last meal yesterday.

    According to the DOC Department Order Manual, jail staff is required to make "every reasonable effort to accommodate the last meal request" of a Death Row inmate. In other words, an inmate preparing to be executed can have just about anything he or she wants -- within reason -- to eat the night before their execution.

    While West didn't take full advantage of the perks of his impending demise, other recently executed inmates pigged out before their court-ordered dates with death.

    Most notably, kid-killing rapist Donald Beaty.


    Beaty was convicted of the 1984 rape and murder of 13-year-old Christy Ann Fornoff.

    On May 9, 1984, Fornoff, a newspaper carrier, was collecting money along her paper route at the Rockpoint Apartments in Tempe.

    Beaty,a custodian at the apartment complex, abducted the young girl, raped her, and then suffocated her. He kept her dead body in his apartment for two days before leaving it behind a dumpster at the complex.

    The night before his execution -- more than 20 years after getting sentenced to death -- Beaty pigged out on a beef chimichanga with salsa and sour cream, a double cheeseburger with onions, tomato, pickles, lettuce, mustard and mayo, and French fries. For desert, Beaty had nearly a pound (14 ounces) of Rocky Road ice cream.

    Another kid-killing rapist put to death recently was Richard Bible, also on Death Row for more than 20 years before his execution.

    Bible was convicted in the 1988 murder of 9-year-old Jennifer Wilson.

    While Wilson was on vacation with her family in Flagstaff, Bible kidnapped her, molested her, and then bludgeoned her to death.

    The night before his execution, Bible chowed down on four eggs fried over easy with melted cheese on top, a cup of country gravy with sausage, hash browns and seven biscuits with grape jelly and peanut butter. He washed it all down with a bottle of chocolate milk.

    West, like Bible and Beaty, had to wait more than 20 years for the opportunity to mange his favorite foods one last time. While West declined his pig-out, state Attorney General Tom Horne feels 20 years is way too long to keep someone -- namely the victims' families -- waiting for a convicted murderer to eat a last meal before being put to death.

    "The current delays in capital cases are unconscionable and unfair to the victim's family and to the citizens of Arizona," Horne says in a statement released following West's execution.

    http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/val...ps_best_pa.php

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Whether pro-death penalty or anti-death penalty, we are still fascinated by what they ate!

    'Last Meals', a series of oil paintings by(anti) death penalty artist Kate MacDonald

    Last Meals is a continuing series of paintings that juxtaposes the monstrousness of capital punishment with our own fascination in the final requests of the condemned.

    Found groupings of leftover meals poignantly underline the humanity of the executed, while alluding to the terrible finality of their sentences. Originally conceived to participate in the Texas Moratorium Network’s exhibit Justice For All? Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty, the first painting of the series, Last Meal: Ruben Cantu, has been shown at galleries in Austin and Houston, TX, as well as the Texas State Capitol Building. Further paintings in the series have been exhibited in Vancouver, BC; San Francisco, CA; Hartford, CT; and Ashland, OH.

    Examples chosen for illustration in this series inform (speculative) the viewer of various injustices surrounding the issue of capital punishment. These include mental health and lack of advocacy, racial discrimination, poverty, and at the issue's most basic argument, the possible innocence of the executed; while the leftover table scraps relate the humanity of the condemned to our own ordinary experience.



    Above: Last Meal: Ruben Cantu, oil on canvas, 24x20 in NFS. Ruben Cantu was 17 at the time of the offence for which he was wrongly convicted. “My name is Ruben M. Cantu and I am only 18 years old. I got to the 9th grade and I have been framed in a capital murder case."

    His last meal consisted of barbecue chicken, brown rice, refried beans and sweet tea. His request for bubble gum was denied. Oil painting by death penalty artist Kate MacDonald.

    Click here to view Kate MacDonald's online exihibition.



  3. #23
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    LOL..what's the point of the painting if most all the food is already eaten?? It's just basically an empty plate.

    I could never eat what Beaty ate without getting sick or throwing up. He must've been massively obese or something!

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Some behind bars will eat well today; others will not

    Inmates in California prisons are behind bars for a number of reasons, be it grand theft, fraud or murder. But today, criminals will have something special to be thankful for — a hot Thanksgiving meal.

    Of the 365 days a year that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has to feed the inmates in all 33 state prisons, only four of those days are reserved for special holiday meals. Thanksgiving just happens to be one of those days.

    The Lodi Police Department, meanwhile, will be serving TV turkey dinners for those who are arrested and end up staying in the Lodi Jail on Thanksgiving.

    Spokespersons for the San Joaquin County Jail were unable to say what exactly would be served at the jail today.

    Typically, state prison cooks serve a standardized menu to inmates housed in every prison.

    But according to Laurie Maurino, the Departmental Food Administrator for California Department of Corrections. of the four holidays a year where the institutions can serve whatever they wish, Thanksgiving meals will consist of traditional options, from savory, roasted turkey to mashed potatoes and gravy.

    "Inmates get upset if it is not the traditional menu, especially if they don't serve pumpkin pie," she said.

    But Maurino added that outside food from family members is not allowed, even if it is the best pecan pie or green bean casserole around.

    "There would be too much opportunity to smuggle drugs in," she said. "The visiting room has vending machines where families can buy inmates food, but no other food is allowed."

    In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, $158 million was allocated to the department for food, which works out to approximately $2.90 per inmate, per day.

    Generally, holiday food menus would be absorbed into the prison's general food budget, Verke said.

    And while the exact cost of the inmate's Thanksgiving meal could not be determined for Folsom State Prison, spokesperson Lt. Paul Baker said for the most part, inmates are appreciative of the meals.

    In the Folsom prison, for example, Baker said the day will begin as usual, but the count — checking to make every inmate is present — which typically starts at 5 p.m. and lasts about two hours, will begin a half-hour earlier so those who are incarcerated can have more time to eat a bigger meal.

    Whether an inmate is on death row or serving a short stint behind bars, there is no discrimination when it comes to a Thanksgiving meal, Baker added.

    And while families may not be able to share an evening meal with inmates at one of the 33 prisons, they will be able to visit between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. or 3:30 p.m., depending on the location.

    http://www.lodinews.com/news/article...33d8ccbcd.html

  5. #25
    Senior Member Member Jeffects's Avatar
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    God forbid these criminals don't get their pumpkin pie, they might get angry and do something wrong/illegal. I wish we would make our prisons more like the kind of place you really don't want to end up in. Oh Brother.

  6. #26
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    One point we should not forget when we discuss the treatment of the inmates are the guards. I think it was a episode of "Lockdown" where the chief guard explained that it is important that the inmates are treated with some respect. If you treat them all the day their aggression level raises and the guards have to deal with this situation. If the pie makes the inmates life a little bit better and the guards have less problems at work it´s ok for me. Also I would differ between the inmate groups - inmates with release dates (=short sentences/minor crimes) should get a better treatment and as much support as possible that the become "good" members of the society after their release.

    On a personal level I would prefer "Prison Break"-Season 2-style prisons (the one in South America) for LWOPs. One facility, no guards inside, food and other items daily via a security gate.

    ... but we´re gettin off-topic. Sorry

  7. #27
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    An interesting twist on the last meals we talk about.

    Whitney Houston's last meal! For someone worth HUNDREDS of millions of dollars she ate pretty ordinary.

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mor...-1226271128681

  8. #28
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    :: SHAKES HEAD::

    I hope that information came from observation of the hotel room, and not a leak from the coroner's office! :disgust:

  9. #29
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Those Brits and Aussies really know how to get to the bottom of things!

  10. #30
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    A few last meals:

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-n...-serial-754466

    I didn't know that Ronnie Lee Gardner was allowed to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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