FSTDT Forums

Community => Society and History => Topic started by: Zygarde on February 19, 2014, 05:00:45 pm

Title: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Zygarde on February 19, 2014, 05:00:45 pm: So I saw this interesting thing on Buzzfeed today it showed the twelve pictures of the last meals of death row prisoners . While I myself don't like the death penalty (I think it kills more innocent people than guilty people and it seems to suck balls as a deterrent) it is still to me a weird interest of mine to look at the last meals for people who were executed.

Here is one of the pictures
spoilerd for size
(click to show/hide)
(http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-02/enhanced/webdr05/18/3/enhanced-buzz-wide-15901-1392713694-12.jpg)

Here's the article itself

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/12-pictures-of-death-row-prisoners-last-meals
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on February 19, 2014, 05:04:53 pm: It's kind of interesting.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Dakota Bob on February 19, 2014, 05:41:16 pm: Saving it for later? guy should have been a comedian instead.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Meshakhad on February 19, 2014, 06:43:09 pm: I would want to eat my executioner.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Old Viking on February 19, 2014, 07:26:42 pm: I would try to persuade the warden that I needed a few weeks to make up my mind.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Kat S. on February 19, 2014, 07:48:48 pm: In Texas, they stop giving last meal special requests because Lawrence Brewer, one of the white supremacists responsible for dragging a blind black man name James Byrd Jr. to death, ordered a huge and extravagant last meal only to refuse it in a last act of being an a**hole. Now, condemned inmates only get prison food a typical inmate would receive.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: mellenORL on February 19, 2014, 07:51:42 pm: One bad apple spoils the bunch. That was a bigger dick move on part of the state of Texas.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Meshakhad on February 19, 2014, 10:25:54 pm: Seriously, I think they should just set a budget for a last meal. Maybe $60?
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: kefkaownsall on February 19, 2014, 10:54:14 pm: Quote from: mellenORL on February 19, 2014, 07:51:42 pm
One bad apple spoils the bunch. That was a bigger dick move on part of the state of Texas.
It might have been a gambit since the only people executed in Texas are people he would have liked to die
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Kat S. on February 20, 2014, 11:01:07 am: Quote from: Meshakhad on February 19, 2014, 10:25:54 pm
Seriously, I think they should just set a budget for a last meal. Maybe $60?

Some states have budgets like that. Florida's last meal can't be above $40 in value, and another state, I forgot which one, only allows the last meal to be no more than $10 in value.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Meshakhad on February 20, 2014, 01:47:53 pm: I'm also reminded of an old (and good) Jewish joke:

Three men are on death row: a Frenchman, an Italian, and a Jew. Each is offered a last meal.

The Frenchman says "I would like some escargot, some good French bread, and some really good French wine". They provide him the meal, he eats it, thanks them, and goes to be executed.

The Italian says "I want a big plate of pasta and some nice Italian wine." They provide him the meal, he eats it, thanks them, and goes to be executed.

The Jew says "I want some strawberries!"

"Strawberries?" they say. "But strawberries aren't even in season!"

The Jew shrugs. "I can wait!"
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Damen on February 21, 2014, 02:36:17 pm: Quote from: Kat S. on February 20, 2014, 11:01:07 am
Quote from: Meshakhad on February 19, 2014, 10:25:54 pm
Seriously, I think they should just set a budget for a last meal. Maybe $60?

Some states have budgets like that. Florida's last meal can't be above $40 in value, and another state, I forgot which one, only allows the last meal to be no more than $10 in value.

Wow.

"You're about to die and this is the last meal you will ever eat. You can have anything you want*!"

(*limited to items found on the McDonald's Dollar Menu. Some restrictions apply.)
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: rageaholic on February 21, 2014, 02:51:56 pm: I'd probably just tell them to order me a pizza, preferably one of those Chicago Deep Dish ones. They are terrible for you, but I guess at that point it wouldn't matter.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: davedan on February 21, 2014, 06:29:27 pm: Eye Fillet, Potatoes Dauhpinois (Cream cheese potatoes), lobster thermidor, truffle pasta and matching wines.

Or in the case of the $10 limit a bucket of hot and spicy KFC.

It really brings home the link between comfort and food. We are going to kill you cracker, but hey you can have whatever you want to eat beforehand.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: mellenORL on February 21, 2014, 07:06:19 pm: Come to think of it, I'd want something that could be easily and spectacularly vomited up once I entered the execution chamber.
Poprocks and Frootloops with Gummi Worms?
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Zygarde on February 21, 2014, 08:27:40 pm: I figured I would always want my last meal to be badly prepared fugu since, well if I'm gonna die I'm dying saying I finally ate one of those things.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Art Vandelay on February 21, 2014, 08:42:33 pm: Personally, I'd just take a couple of large orders of everything on the KFC menu (excluding the grilled chicken and salad wraps and pansy nonsense like that). Even more so, for stuff like popcorn chicken. I'd want to gorge myself like I've never gorged before, hopefully so I can not only be in the food coma to end all food comas once it's time to be zappified, but also so I can throw up/shit myself in the most spectacular fashion possible. Really make sure those executioners are earning their paycheck.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Ghoti on February 21, 2014, 11:17:48 pm: Art, you scare me.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Art Vandelay on February 21, 2014, 11:31:44 pm: It's what I'm here for.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: chitoryu12 on February 22, 2014, 01:52:12 am: A bucket of Mentos and a 2 liter of Diet Coke.

Bring it on.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Flying Mint Bunny! on February 22, 2014, 09:21:39 am: What about ordering something that smells really bad, like Surströmming?

That way you get revenge by making everything stink for ages after they kill you.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Canadian Mojo on February 22, 2014, 09:55:47 am: If you want to go out in a spectacular/disgusting fashion how about a 5lbs bag of sugar free gummi bears?

I'd probably really fuck with my executioners and ask for a gallon of maple syrup -- and forgo taking any insulin. the ensuing sugar coma would land me in the infirmary for a good spell (since you can't execute a dying person). When they reschedule the execution I'd get the gummi bears.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Sigmaleph on February 22, 2014, 11:37:52 am: Quote from: Canadian Mojo on February 22, 2014, 09:55:47 am
I'd probably really fuck with my executioners and ask for a gallon of maple syrup -- and forgo taking any insulin. the ensuing sugar coma would land me in the infirmary for a good spell (since you can't execute a dying person). When they reschedule the execution I'd get the gummi bears.

What.

Is there any good reason for that policy, or is it just one of those "we don't want to seem mean about it" deals?
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: kefkaownsall on February 22, 2014, 07:05:30 pm: I think it could lead to execution pain
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Kat S. on February 27, 2014, 09:12:15 pm: In Texas, condemned inmates are executed by lethal injection unless the inmate wishes to be executed in a quick way. Some states in the south still use the electric chair while other states have found the electric chair to be "cruel and unusual" and thus phased them out. California uses the gas chamber through the use of hydrogen cyanide gas, but the use of the gas chamber has been questioned.

The point of the post is, of all the ways inmates have been executed, I haven't heard of an inmate violently vomiting while being executed because of what they ate.

Also, yeah the state doesn't really like it when the condemned inmates jump the gun and try to kill themselves before the state can kill them.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Søren on February 27, 2014, 09:17:23 pm: Quote from: Kat S. on February 27, 2014, 09:12:15 pm
In Texas, condemned inmates are executed by lethal injection unless the inmate wishes to be executed in a quick way. Some states in the south still use the electric chair while other states have found the electric chair to be "cruel and unusual" and thus phased them out. California uses the gas chamber through the use of hydrogen cyanide gas, but the use of the gas chamber has been questioned.

The point of the post is, of all the ways inmates have been executed, I haven't heard of an inmate violently vomiting while being executed because of what they ate.

Also, yeah the state doesn't really like it when the condemned inmates jump the gun and try to kill themselves before the state can kill them.

I've always found that kind of funny.

"awww, but WE didnt get to kill him" *stomps foot*
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Cerim Treascair on February 28, 2014, 01:57:55 am: Man, if I had to die, I'd PREFER a firing squad! At least a bullet's QUICK.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Cloud3514 on February 28, 2014, 03:53:45 am: I've always wondered why, if you have to kill someone, you don't just put a bullet or two in their brain. It seems quicker, easier and less expensive than finding a pharmaceutical company that will sell you something to put in a lethal injection since they tend to frown upon supporting the death penalty.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Sigmaleph on February 28, 2014, 09:17:42 am: I'd guess it's because the death penalty has a serious PR problem* and firing squads/guillotines/etc. all look terribly barbaric, whereas lethal injection looks more civilized. Being actually cheaper or less painful or quicker is a secondary concern at best**.

*Because, y'know, killing people.

**Because state machinery has a hard time giving a shit about people it's going to kill.

***This footnote doesn't actually correspond to anything in the text.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: Cerim Treascair on February 28, 2014, 11:09:53 am: From what I understand, firing squad's been deemed cruel and unusual punishment by several states. Why? Because it was traumatic for the FIRING SQUAD.

Know how they did it? They put the real bullet in one guy's gun at random, everybody else got blanks.

So... yeah. The entire squad would think they were the one that killed him and wind up with mental issues, so they stopped doing it. Why they don't just get hardened military meatheads who have no problems slaughtering folks, I dunno.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: chitoryu12 on February 28, 2014, 11:22:33 am: Quote from: Cerim Treascair on February 28, 2014, 11:09:53 am
From what I understand, firing squad's been deemed cruel and unusual punishment by several states. Why? Because it was traumatic for the FIRING SQUAD.

Know how they did it? They put the real bullet in one guy's gun at random, everybody else got blanks.

So... yeah. The entire squad would think they were the one that killed him and wind up with mental issues, so they stopped doing it. Why they don't just get hardened military meatheads who have no problems slaughtering folks, I dunno.

The "some guys have blanks and some guys have live rounds" thing has been used, but it's always done differently. Some groups simply never used blanks and just expected everyone to tough it out. A lot of them only had one blank among them, usually with a wax bullet to provide similar recoil to a live round, so that nobody knew for sure who fired a fatal shot. I think part of the problem is that modern methods of execution have people assigned to the duty who are trained in pulling the levers and pushing the buttons that end a man's life, but a firing squad is taken from people who haven't ever been trained to directly point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. If your execution is simply throwing a switch or pushing buttons in the correct order, it's impersonal. You can feel like you didn't "really" kill them.

But then, as Sigmaleph said, fast methods of execution are often dirty. A bullet to the head sprays blood and bone, and a guillotine will always be messy and rather traumatic to watch and clean up after. They may kill instantly or almost instantly with a minimum of pain, but they don't look as clean on camera and make people start to dislike executions more. Using lethal injection may be loaded with potential mistakes that cause someone to spend hours dying in agony and unable to express this due to the paralytics they're pumped with, but fewer people feel bad when they just watch someone gradually stop breathing while strapped to a table. You don't need to think about it.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: mellenORL on February 28, 2014, 11:44:14 am: I never understood why when gas chambers were in use, it wasn't something simple, cheap and basically painless, like carbon monoxide? It's still used for euthanizing small animals, and considered humane.

But, no, US gas chambers mostly were about putting potassium cyanide pellets in a jar under the condemned and then pumping in
sulfuric acid over those to release hydrogen cyanide gas clouds into the chamber. While instructing the condemned to breathe it in to avoid prolonging the process.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible, the subject (animal or human) would fall asleep, go into a coma, and asphyxiate by blood oxygen depletion in that state. Other than causing an extreme "blush" to the skin (looks purple-ish on dark skin, pink to red on light skin), it leaves a fairly peaceful looking corpse. The condemned could also be helped by a strong sedative, such as Versed ("vehr-sehd"). No wonder so many suicides have chosen carbon dioxide.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: R. U. Sirius on February 28, 2014, 05:01:53 pm: Quote from: Cerim Treascair on February 28, 2014, 11:09:53 am
From what I understand, firing squad's been deemed cruel and unusual punishment by several states. Why? Because it was traumatic for the FIRING SQUAD.

Know how they did it? They put the real bullet in one guy's gun at random, everybody else got blanks.

So... yeah. The entire squad would think they were the one that killed him and wind up with mental issues, so they stopped doing it. Why they don't just get hardened military meatheads who have no problems slaughtering folks, I dunno.

I thought the point of that exercise was so everyone could tell themselves that they WEREN'T the ones to fire the actual shot.
Title: Re: Last Meals of Prisoners
Post by: MadCatTLX on February 28, 2014, 07:56:46 pm: The reason Utah still has the option of firing squad is because of some Mormon doctrine that says something to the effect of "if you spill the blood of another the only way to redeem yourself is to have your own blood spilled". Of course this is interpreted in the most literal sense that blood actually has to spill from the body.