Psychologist explains 'complex meanings' behind last meal orders ahead of rare triple US execution
A food psychologist has explained the meaning behind the 'choices someone makes for their last ever meal', as three death row inmates are set to be executed today across the US.
The triple execution marks only the second time in US history that three inmates have received the lethal injection on the same day.
Jeremy Williams, 41, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, and Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, are set to be put to death in different states across the country, after eating their final meal yesterday evening (August 12).
Each state, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Alabama, has different rules and regulations around what inmates can request.
Advert
In Tennessee, death row inmates can spend up to $20 on a final meal, while Oklahoma imposes a $25 limit. In Alabama, inmates must choose food sourced from local supplies.
But food psychologist Professor Jane Ogden says there may be more to making final meal decisions than meets the eye.
"Foods are embedded with complex meanings often related to our childhoods but also salient moments in our lives such as falling in love, a special celebration or a tragedy," she said, speaking with UNILAD.
Professor Ogden added: "These meanings can be positive such as love, a treat or celebration or more negative such as shame, guilt, regret or loss. Food can therefore evoke strong memories and the sight, smell or taste of a meal can rapidly take someone back to a part of their previous life."
She noted that the choices someone makes for their final meal are 'bound to reflect where they want that meal to take them back to in their lives'.
"They might select a childhood favourite if these were happier a times; a meal they had with a loved one to revisit this memory or something that was forbidden or rare due to being too expensive or complicated as a way to have a final treat."
The psychologist noted that each inmates choice is 'highly personal', and that 'no food means the same thing to two different people'.
Cuesta-Rodriguez spent nearly two decades on death row for the 2003 murder of his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher.
Speaking with UNILAD, chief of communications at the corrections department, Kay Thompson, revealed that Cuesta-Rodriguez's final meal will be made up of a cuban sandwich, rocky road ice cream, doughnuts, and a bottle of water.
Hines' death row meal, confirmed by the Tennessee Department of Corrections to UNILAD, will comprise of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and a sweet tea.
UNILAD reached out to the Alabama Department of Correction for Williams' final meal request.
Most popular death row meal requests
A study by Cornell University found that fried food tops the list of the most requested final meals by death row inmates.
Be it seafood, chicken, or fries, it was typically fast food dishes that frequently made the cut.
This often includes meals like Kentucky Fried Chicken or Burger King, milkshakes, and ice cream.
As for their drink request, alcohol is mostly banned for death row prisoners, so sodas make a common appearance.
Infamous death row meals
Victor Feguer
Feguer kidnapped and killed Dr Edward Bartels in July 1960. The doctor's body was later found in an Illinois cornfield with a single gunshot to the head.
Feguer was convicted of federal kidnapping and murder and executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary on 15 March, 1963.
For his final meal, the 27-year-old murderer requested a single olive with the pit in it. Feguer apparently told guards that he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave, 'as a sign of peace'.
John Wayne Gacy
One of America’s most notorious serial killers, Gacy was convicted in 1980 after murdering at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s.
The 52-year-old was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois on 10 May, 1994.
Gacy opted for a bucket of KFC's original recipe chicken, French fries, 12 deep-fried shrimp, and a pound of strawberries for his last supper. In an eerie full-circle moment, it’s said that he previously managed several KFC restaurants owned by his father-in-law.
James Edward Smith
Smith was found guilty of fatally shooting Larry Don Rohus while he was robbing an office building in Houston, Texas, in 1983.
He was put to death by lethal injection at Texas’ Huntsville Unit on 26 June, 1990.
The inmate asked for a lump of rhaeakunda dirt for his final meal, as part of a voodoo ritual, which he both practised and believed in, as he hoped that it would assist his journey into reincarnation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his bizarre request was denied, and the 37-year-old was given plain yoghurt instead.
Timothy McVeigh
McVeigh was convicted of conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and destruction by explosives resulting in death for carrying out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people.
On 11 June, 2001, he was executed for his crimes via lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana.
McVeigh, 33, chowed down on two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream for his final meal.
Lawrence Russell Brewer
Brewer was a white supremacist who, along with two other men, was convicted of murdering James Byrd Jr. in 1998.
Aged 44, he was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on 21 September, 2011.
For his last meal, the criminal infamously requested: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, peppers and jalapeños; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with all the trimmings; a Meat Lovers pizza; one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge; and three root beers.
However, when it arrived, Brewer refused to touch any of it - you can imagine how that went down. His actions ultimately led to the state abolishing the long-standing tradition.
Topics: Food and Drink, Death Row, US News
Mia Williams