When people in countries that still have the death penalty are about to be executed they are often granted the final request of a last meal, where they can ask for pretty much anything (within reason) and the prison will try and provide it for them.
The largest ever meal is thought to have been ordered by Mississippi inmate Gary Carl Simmons Jr, nicknamed 'The Butcher' due to formerly working as one, who spent 15 years on death row in Mississippi State Penitentiary before being executed.
Executed at the age of 49, Simmons was sentenced to death back in 1997 after being convicted of kidnap, rape, and capital murder.
Advert
He had murdered 21-year-old Jeffrey Wolfe in 1996, who had travelled from Houston with his girlfriend to collect a drug debt.
When Wolfe and his girlfriend arrived, Simmons and his accomplice Timothy Milano told them they didn't have the money and an argument broke out, during which time Wolfe was shot dead by Milano with a .22-caliber rifle.
Simmons tied up the murdered man's girlfriend and stuffed her inside a footlocker, later raping her with court documents recording that he threatened to kill her.
She was then stuffed back inside the footlocker.
Wolfe's body was dismembered in a bathtub and then dumped into alligator-infested waters, during which time the woman managed to escape her captivity and run to a neighbour's house.
Advert
Simmons was sentenced to death, while Milano received a sentence of life imprisonment.
What did Gary Carl Simmons Jr order for his last meal?
The death row inmate's order came to about 29,000 calories, more than two weeks worth of calorie intake for a grown adult, and is thought to be the biggest last meal ever chosen.
He ordered the following:
Advert
- Pizza Hut medium Super Supreme Deep Dish Pizza, double portion, with mushrooms, onions, jalapeño peppers, and pepperoni
- Pizza, regular portion, with three cheeses, olives, bell pepper, tomato, garlic and Italian sausage
- McDonald's fries, super sized, with extra ketchup and mayonnaise
- 10 packs of 8-oz parmesan cheese
- 10 packs of 8-oz olive ranch dressing
- Family sized pack of Doritos, nacho cheese flavour
- 8-oz jalapeño nacho cheese
- 4-oz sliced jalapeños
- Two pints of strawberry ice cream
- Two large strawberry milkshakes
- Two 20-oz cherry cokes
Around 90 minutes before his execution via lethal injection at 6pm on 20 June, 2012, Simmons had eaten around half of the food and tried a 'bit of everything'.
Advert
It is not known whether he was able to finish the entire meal, but failing to even eat anything is the reason why death row inmates in Texas no longer have a choice when it comes to their final meal.
Texas no longer allows inmates a last meal request
Back in 2011 when Lawrence Russell Brewer was about to be executed in Texas for dragging a man behind his car for three miles he placed a large order of food and then refused to eat any of it.
Texas politicians accused him of 'make a mockery out of the process' and from that point onwards death row inmates in Texas have no longer been allowed to request their last meal.
Topics: Death Row, US News, Crime, Food And Drink
Joe Harker