The Last Meals Requested by Death Row Inmates Before Their Executions

Dec 06, 2012

Michael Zhang

In certain countries around the world, death row prisoners who are about to face execution are offered a special last meal to eat. Authorities do their best to accommodate the special food requests, and these choices are often published to the media after the execution is carried out.

Photographer Henry Hargreaves decided to do a photo project to document what these last suppers comprised and what they might have looked like. He looked up the requests of some of history’s most notorious executed criminals, recreated those meals, and photographed them. The project is titled “No Seconds.”

The photograph above shows the last meal requested by murderer Victor Feguer: a single unpitted olive.

ronnie — Ronnie Lee Gardner requested lobster tail, steak, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and to eat the meal while watching the Lord of the Rings

allen2 — Allen Lee Davis requested Lobster tail, fried potatoes, 1/2 fried shrimp, 6oz fried clamps, 1/2 loaf of garlic bread, and 32ox A&W root beer

ted — Ted Bundy declined a special meal, so he was given the traditional last meal of medium rare steak, over-easy eggs, hash browns, toast with butter and jelly, milk, and juice

stephen — Stephen Anderson requested 2 grilled cheese sandwiches, a pint of cottage cheese, Hominy/corn mixture, peach pie, chocolate chip ice cream, and radishes

timothy — Timothy McVeigh requested 2 pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream

ricky — Ricky Ray Rector requested steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and pecan pie. He left the pecan pie, telling the guard that he was “saving it for later.”

john — John Wayne Gacy requested 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe KFC (he had managed 3 KFC restaurants), french fries, and 1lb of strawberries

angel — Angel Nieves Diaz declined a special meal, was offered the regular last meal and declined that also.

You can find a list of documented last meal requests over on Wikipedia. The amount of money last meals are limited to vary by state. Oklahoma restricts it to $15, but Florida is willing to spend up to $40 for the request.

Image credits: Photographs by Henry Hargreaves and used with permission

Inspiration