Last Meals of Death Row Inmates

The last meals of convicts, what would you choose if you were facing execution?Woody Overton and Jim Chapman bring you another episode of Bloody Angola: A Prison Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman where the topic is some of the most infamous of those executed and what they choose to eat just before they ride the lightning or get the needle!#deathrow #podcast #applepodcast #spotify #lastmeals #podcastsBloody Angola is produced by Envision Podcast StudiosWebsitewww.bloodyangolapodcast.comFULL TRANSCRIPTBloody Angola:A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman (LAST MEALS)Jim: Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Bloody-Woody: -Angola.Jim: A podcast 142 years in the making.Woody: The complete story of America's Bloodiest Prison.Jim: I'm Jim Chapman.Woody: I'm Woody Overton.Jim: And last meals, Woody Overton, are on our mind today.Woody: I've always just been totally fascinated by the condemned and what they ask for their last meals. Jim: That's a big decision. I mean, people don't really think about it, but this is the last meal you'll ever eat and I'm sure these death row inmates, like all of us-- people ask y'all the time, "What is your favorite food?" And sometimes people can't decide on that.Woody: I know Angola, back in my time, during corrections, they actually had an inmate that all he did was prepare the last meals for the condemned.Jim: Yeah. And I'm sure considered it like quite an honor.Woody: I think they even did a cookbook of it. I'm going to have to look that up. We have to do an episode on that cookbook.Jim: We might have to do a cookbook.[laughter] Jim: The Bloody Angola-- look, and I guarantee you some people going to message us down and say, "I'm a buyer, I want a cookbook."Woody: We told y'all it would always be different. Today, we're not going to talk about Angola, we're going to talk about some really fascinating last meals from across the country.Jim: Yeah. And last meals of death row inmates, they've been around a long time. Actually, they date back to the 20s in the United States, but in the UK, Europe, they were prevalent even in the 1800s.Woody: Yeah, but they were killing a lot more people back then.Jim: [laughs]Woody: "Off with your head," and shit.Jim: Yeah. I don't know how many people actually got to this side.Woody: I think the [crosstalk] the public executions in England [unintelligible [00:03:20] were used until the early 20th century.Jim: Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me. And last meals of any sort-- and we're going to stick to the United States here, especially in the United States, when they were first invented or became in vogue or whatever, they were looked at as an act of mercy on the prisoners, kind of humanize them in the eyes of the general public.Woody: "We'll feed you before we kill you."Jim: Yeah. "He likes pizza and I like pizza. We got something in common," that kind of thing, I'm sure. It has become in vogue since the 20s. Usually, there's a certain time period in which these inmates have, it's not necessarily their last meal, it might be two days earlier that they get that special meal.Woody: Yeah. In Louisiana, it is on the day of execution, but it varies by state to state.Jim: Is every inmate entitled to a last meal?Woody: No, they're not. Like I said, it varies state to state, including some states, you don't get your request for a last meal.Jim: No last meal at all. You just eat whatever they got. Woody: Texas was the first state to introduce last meals to death throw inmates in 1924. It was quickly shared among other states. And after death row inmates, Lawrence R. Brewer's extravagant large and expensive last meal that he did not eat. Texas said, "We're not doing this shit anymore," but this dude didn't even eat, like, his last FU to the state of Texas. "You spent that...