One Texas death row inmate is the reason prisoners in the state no longer get to choose a final meal before their execution.
For decades, inmates in Texas were allowed to request a last meal of their choosing before being put to death. But that long-standing tradition came to an abrupt end in 2011 after one inmate’s actions sparked outrage among lawmakers. The inmate was Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed on September 21, 2011, for his role in the 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr.
The murder shocked the nation. Byrd, a Black man, was tortured before being chained by his ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: “Brewer and his co-defendants then dragged the victim to his death, leaving his decapitated and dismembered body to be found the following day by citizens and law enforcement officials,” as cited by The Mirror.
