Death row inmates are not allowed specific 'last meal' luxury item with ban lasting 191 years

“What would be your death row meal?” is often a question that might pop up in an ice breaker, on a podcast or even round the pub.

But while it sees us conjure up dreams of our favourite foods, it’s a reality for those living in the jails across the US.The details of inmates’ final meals often get published in the reports following executions, with the likes of various junk food tending to be the most popular choices.

However, while many dine on their favourite or nostalgic tastes from burgers to ribeye steak, there’s a particular item that those up for execution cannot request.

And as this luxury has been banned for a whopping 191 years, Texas previously banned the final meal tradition altogether.

A meal inside a cell at San Quentin State Prison's death row adjustment centre (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Way, way back in 1835, Manuel Fernandez is said to have been the last death row inmate allowed to have the luxury of a ‘nip of brandy’ and a few tokes on a cigar before he was executed.

And since then, alcohol has been banned from the final meal tradition.

That’s because most prisons count any form of alcoholic beverage as ‘contraband’ so it’s strictly forbidden from being inside altogether.

Tobacco is also included in the list of forbidden items in the jails.

Instead, inmates can request the likes of fizzy drinks to accompany their final meal – there’s just no booze in sight.

Meanwhile, Texas abolished the chance for inmates to request their preferences for their final bites before their execution back in 2011.

Booze cannot be ordered with the final meal (Getty Stock Images)

This is said to be directly down to the actions of Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was sentenced to death in the southern state.

He ordered such a huge amount of food that it was deemed as taking advantage and being excessive.

Convicted of a racially motivated murder, he notoriously 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 jalapenos; 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.

Lawrence Russell Brewer's actions had major consequences (Buck Kelly/Getty Images)

And then when it arrived, Brewer refused to touch any of it.

To combat this kind of thing happening elsewhere, the likes of Florida has a $40 limit in place for final meal orders.

However, Brewer isn't alone, there's been a number of bizarre last meal requests from death row inmates over years...

Infamous death row meals

Victor Feguer

Can you even class Feguer's request as a ‘meal’? (Iowa Police)

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

Gacy was known as the ‘Killer Clown’ (Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)

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

Prison officials denied his request (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

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

The 33-year-old was responsible for one of the deadliest acts of domestic terrorism in US history (Getty Images)

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.