Final Project: Debate Paper
XBCOM/275
October 6, 2013

Should a Death Row Inmate be Granted a Last Meal One of the most controversial debates today is regarding the ability for death row inmates to order a last meal before execution. What sparked the debate most recently is when a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer, a death row inmate housed in a Texas prison, ordered a meat lovers pizza, two chicken fried steaks with gravy and fried onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and jalapeños, a large bowl of fried okra and a side of ketchup, three fajitas, one pound of barbequed meat with a half of loaf of white bread, one triple patty cheeseburger, a pan of peanut butter fudge topped with crushed peanuts, three root beer drinks and one full pint of Blue Bell ice cream (Fernandez, Manny). After Lawrence Brewer ordered this huge feast, he did not even eat one bite. This extravagant meal was costly in many ways to taxpayers. Lawrence Brewer took his last opportunity to show the government, the victims, the family of the victims, and all people just how little he cared. Many people were disgusted by his arrogance and disdain, and others thought nothing, as though it were his right to order whatever his heart desired in the last hours before his death. The current debate runs deep. Normally a last meal requests are made approximately two weeks prior the scheduled execution. Why in the world would you treat a vicious murderer like a special celebrity two hours before they are to be executed? Conversely, why would you deny a person the comfort of having one last meal of their choice? We are what we eat so is the last meal the final opportunity for the person (inmate) to have their moment of self-expression? The last meal as a cultural phenomenon grew even as capital punishment faded from public view, and in less than two centuries the country has gone from