Oklahoma to continue last meal tradition for condemned inmates

"Last meal: Ruben Cantu"
by Kate MacDonald

Oklahoma will continue to grant special last meal requests for death row inmates before they're executed.

Despite a high-profile move by Texas prison officials to end the long-standing tradition, Oklahoma will continue to grant last meal requests to death row inmates before they're executed.

Last week, the head of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced that death row inmates in the Lone Star State will no longer be granted opulent last meal requests after a convicted murderer didn't touch a large offering provided by a Texas prison.

Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed Wednesday for the June 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, reportedly ordered a massive feast for his last meal, including two chicken-fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

When Texas prison officials reported that Brewer didn't eat a bite of food before he was killed by lethal injection, state Sen. John Whitmire promptly wrote a letter to the director of the state's corrections department demanding the long-standing practice be discontinued.

Within hours, Whitmire's request was granted by Brad Livingston, the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, who found the senator's demands appropriate.

Jerry Massie, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corrections Department, said he hasn't heard from any angry lawmakers since the news broke in Texas. He said the state has strict guidelines concerning last meal requests that protect against inmates wasting huge quantities of food.

“The meal isn't prepared here at the prison,” Massie said. “There's a $15 limit and all the food must be obtained locally, in McAlester.”

Massie, who's been with the Corrections Department for 25 years, said that wasting a last meal isn't typical. He said executions typically take place at 6 p.m., with a prisoner's last meal delivered about noon the same day.

“For the most part, they eat it,” he said. “Of course, some times they don't.”

In 2011, 2 inmates have been executed in Oklahoma.

Billy Don Alverson, 39, was executed Jan. 6 for the 1995 beating death of a Tulsa store clerk. Jeffrey David Matthews, 38, died by lethal injection 5 days later for killing his uncle in 1994.

According to prison officials, Alverson requested a large pepperoni and Italian sausage pizza and a large Dr Pepper for his last meal. Matthews ordered a small deep-dish pizza, deep-fried shrimp with cocktail sauce and two Hush Puppies with vinegar sauce.

Massie said the tradition of granting a last meal request for a condemned prisoner is universal, at least as far as he's concerned.

“It's pretty much the same throughout the world,” he said. “I believe we've done it here (in Oklahoma) since we started doing executions.”

Since a federal ban on capital punishment was lifted in the 1970s, Oklahoma has executed 96 inmates, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Only Texas, with 475, has executed more prisoners. In fact, Oklahoma's nearest rivals, in terms of post-ban executions, are Florida (69) and Missouri (68). [my note----this is factually incorrect....Virginia ranks 2nd in US executions with 109 since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2, 1976]

Massie said there are currently no executions scheduled in Oklahoma.

Source: The Oklahoman, September 27, 2011

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