The last meal is a traditional part of a condemned prisoner's last day. A few hours before the appointed time of execution, the prisoner will be given the meal, as well as religious rites, if he or she desires. Fishers of Men, oil on panel by Adriaen van de Venne (1614) Various religious symbols Religion is a human phenomenon that defies easy definition. ...

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.

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. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ...

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. The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... The word Aztec is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. ... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ...

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. World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of Earth; the term continent here referring to a cultural and political distinction, rather than a physiographic one, thus leading to various perspectives about Europes precise borders. ... The term revenant can refer to: A ghost or a zombie Medieval revenants were believed to be corpses who returned to life A computer game under the same title Revenant Records, a label set up by John Fahey One of the monsters featured in the computer game series Doom A...

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. Lex talionis (literally the Latin for law as retaliation) or law of retaliation is the belief that one of the purposes of the law is to provide retaliation for an offended party. ... Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ...

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^[2] and Maryland does not offer the condemned a special last meal. A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. ... Species Nicotiana acuminata Nicotiana alata Nicotiana attenuata Nicotiana benthamiana Nicotiana clevelandii Nicotiana excelsior Nicotiana forgetiana Nicotiana glauca Nicotiana glutinosa Nicotiana langsdorffii Nicotiana longiflora Nicotiana obtusifolia Nicotiana paniculata Nicotiana plumbagifolia Nicotiana quadrivalvis Nicotiana repanda Nicotiana rustica Nicotianasuaveolens Nicotiana sylvestris Nicotiana tabacum Nicotiana tomentosa Ref: ITIS 30562 as of August 26, 2005... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Area  Ranked 42nd  - Total 12,417 sq mi (32,160 km²)  - Width 90 miles (145 km)  - Length 249 miles (400 km)  - % water 21  - Latitude 37°53N to 39°43N  - Longitude 75°4W to 79°33...

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.
• 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.
• 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, jalapeno 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-litre 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.

Wesley Eugene Baker (March 26, 1958 – December 5, 2005) was a convicted murderer executed by the U.S. state of Maryland. ... Theodore Robert Ted Bundy (November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer and rapist who murdered numerous young women across the United States between 1974 and 1978. ... Medium rare is a description of how well or done a cut of beef, usually steak, should be cooked and served. ... Victor Feguer (1935 - March 15, 1963) was the last federal inmate in the United States before Timothy McVeigh to be executed, and the last person put to death in the state of Iowa. ... John Wayne Gacys 1968 mugshot after being arrested on charges of child molestation John Wayne Gacy, Jr. ... Gary Mark Gilmore (December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American career criminal who gained international notoriety as the first person legally executed in the United States after the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 after Gregg v. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kansas State Penitentiary mug shot of Perry Smith, taken March 1960, several months after the murders. ... Richard (Dick) Eugene Hickock (born 6 June 1931, died 14 April 1965) was one of two ex-convicts who murdered the four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas on 15 November 1959, a crime made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. ... Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940. ... Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 _ April 3, 1936) was a German carpenter and criminal, sentenced to death and executed for the Lindbergh kidnapping, the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the 20-month old son of famous pilot Charles Lindbergh. ... Velma Margie Barfield was born on October 29, 1932. ... Gary Heidnik (November 1943 - July 6, 1999) was an American criminal who kidnapped women and kept them prisoner in his basement. ... St. ... Aileen Carol Wuornos (born Aileen Carol Pittman) (February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death by the state of Florida in 1992. ...

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.

King of the Hill is a satirical American animated television series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the FOX Network. ... Dale Gribble Dale Alvin Gribble (voiced by Johnny Hardwick) is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. ... Bill Dauterive William Fontaine De La Teaur Dauterive (voiced by Stephen Root) is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. ... Jeff Boomhauer (voiced by Mike Judge) is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. ... Kahn Souphanousinphone (voiced by Toby Huss) is a fictional character on the animated series King of the Hill. ... Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, from the Batman TV series. ... James Cagney was part of the Legends of Hollywood USPS stamp series. ... Rich Little (born Richard Caruthers Little on November 26, 1938 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a comedian best known for his celebrity impersonations. ... James Maitland Jimmy Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an iconic, Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor, best known for his homebred screen persona. ... The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (DCJ) is a department of the government of the state of Texas. ...

Notes

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

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.

External links

• Time, "Why We're Fascinated by Death Row Cuisine".
• A weblog of USA prisoners executed, and their last meals. Claims to be "compiled from various news accounts".
• Last meals served to Texas Death Row inmates, 1982-2003.
• Source for some entries in the famous last meal section.
• List of several last meal requests

• current list of last meals