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LINK The last meals of US prisoners on death row - BBC News

Interesting piece. I found most interesting the level of education attributed to prisoners. Access to a quality education in impoverished communities is clearly something that needs improved upon. I'm not saying it would eliminate crime, but I certainly think it could go a long way toward minimizing it.

Amzungu 8 Aug 17
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10 comments

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1

I hope people read the last one.

1

I agree wholeheartedly!

2

Wow. Amazing. Why eat anything at all before you are executed? Why? I wonder if they give it to them because of guilt?

@SeaGreenEyez I'm like you. I call it stress starving.

@Jolanta I'm not sure what the reason behind it is. Maybe some sort of last wish type of request that can be fulfilled in a prison atmosphere? All very strange to me. We're going to kill you tomorrow, but we'll be happy to get you a Big Mac tonight to try and take some of the bite out of it?

@SeaGreenEyez Neither do I!

3

Reminds me of the tale of a bus conductor who cold-bloodedly killed a passenger who refused to pay a fare.
He was sentenced to death by electrocution and on the appropriate day was asked what he would like to eat. "Just a fresh, ripe banana" He said.
After his meal he was taken to the death chamber and strapped in. Then the power was turned on and his body arched and twisted. After 30 seconds the power was turned off, and to the surprise of the spectators they saw through the glass that his chest was heaving as he breathed.
He was taken away, and all the equipment was thoroughly tested, but found to be in good order.
His execution was rescheduled for a week later, and once again all he wanted to eat was a fresh, ripe banana.
Once more, the switch was pulled, his body arched, and after 30 seconds he was still breathing.
Once more the equipment was checked and the power was even stepped up for a third attempt, the following week.
Yet again he requested a single, fresh banana, and yet again he survived the execution attempt.
After this, Divine Intervention was declared to have exonerated him, he was pardoned and released.
The state, suspecting there was something more compelling than some sort of Divine Intervention, begged him to reveal his secret and paid him ten million dollars to reveal it.
"Well." He said. "I guess I'm just a bad conductor."

Sorry, guys....

3

The Death Penalty is a perfect solution administered in an imperfect system. It is not a solution to anything. Miscarriages of justice happen all to often. The Death penalty is not about justice, it's about revenge. It has no place in any justice system. Especially in a justice system that discriminates against minorities. The US has imposed the Death penalty on Children. Under 18's have been tried as adults and sentenced to death. This puts the US in a group of 3 countries that still execute children (Iran, China and the US). Saudi Arabia does not even execute Children. So long as there is a death penalty in the US there will never be a shining city on a hill. NEVER.

Reducing poverty reduces crime. Education for the Poor reduces crime. This is not an opinion, it's a fact that has been proven time and time again. The Death Penalty does not reduce crime or even deter crime. If it did then the US would have the lowest homicide rates in the developed world.

Yes, I agree to a point but what about those who are left behind mourning the loss of a loved one or loved ones?
The convicted are still breathing air, eating food, etc, etc, and living to some extent whilst their victims are dead and buried with their lives cut short, etc.
Some of the worst of the worst murderers even get to become 'cult' idols and have books and movies written and made about them, they get certain privileges for good behaviour, free education, exercise routines are available for them, etc, etc, but what do the victims get, IF their bodies are found and buried by family/friends, etc, NOTHING but a hole in the ground and a headstone mostly.
I say, once convicted after being proven Guilty then make them work at the hardest of labour in the worst and most demeaning, basest, dirtiest, filthiest tasks and jobs imaginable, no extra privileges for good behaviour, the barest of minimum in nutrients and foods, a 6' x 4' x 8' prison cell with a concrete slab for a bed, a piss-pot, 1 blanket, 1 pillow, the most basic of medical care for the rest of their NATURAL life with the knowledge re-inforced into them daily that upon Death they will be buried in an unmarked grave with no ceremony what-so-ever by their fellow imates in an unknown, unrecorded place.

@Triphid I completely get where you're coming from and don't disagree in sentiment, or even if we had a perfect system, but the fact is, not everyone is guilty of the crimes they are convicted for committing, and even one mistake made when the penalty is death, is more than I'm willing to accept from a civilized people. Witnesses can get it wrong and juries most definitely can get it wrong. My one experience on a criminal jury made that crystal clear to me. All 11 others were ready to convict as soon as deliberations began, but as the foreman I disagreed and requested we wade back through the evidence again, while holding it up to the law. Eventually they were all turned around. The case wasn't proven beyond a reasonable doubt by any means, and in the end I think we eventually got it right, but it was no easy task to get people to remove their emotions or bias and follow the law.

@Triphid, @Amzungu Feeling bitterness on a level that looks for people to be punished with inhuman treatment makes us no better than the criminal themselves. And it continues to make us Victims which is letting the criminal win. It's not the way forward in my view. And most people lose the right to vote in the US when they commit non violent crimes.

@dermot235 I exclusively reserve those feelings for mass murderers and serial killers. I will not waste empathy on them. It's futile.

@Amzungu Not letting these people make you bitter and hateful does not mean you have to show empathy for them. It may have helped the father in the Video link to cope with his loss. I'm not saying that if you feel bitter and hateful if you found yourself in his situation would in any way mean you are a lessor person. I'm not even sure I could do what he did if I was a Victim of a crime like this myself. But I do think that promoting Bitterness and hatred and revenge as part of a justice system is one of the reasons miscarriages of Justice take place so often in the US and in other countries. I think we need to bear this in mind.

@dermot235 Like I said, I don't disagree with you, but there are exceptions to every rule, and for me this is one. I have no bitterness or hatred toward genocidal or serial killers, simply apathy and zero fucks to give about any miscarriage of justice they may incur.

@Amzungu You do understand that a Miscarriage of Justice is when an Innocent person is convicted of a crime??

@dermot235 I do, yet that is not the only potential miscarriage of justice. It is also a miscarriage of justice when people get punished with more prison time for a drug offense than a violent crime, or when white collar crimes receive inadequate repercussions, which happens all too often in the US system. I am in no way advocating for the death penalty, I think I have been clear in that. I am not advocating for hatred and bitterness toward all who are convicted of a violent crime or as a method of engagement for our justice system. I only said I understand the sentiment, especially when coming from the victims, or those left to feel the pain of losing loved ones in those crimes, and would have no problem with @Triphid scenario when applied to mass murderers or serial killers, as there is ever little doubt about their guilt and intention to engage in pure destruction of life. It is fully possible to understand something and not embrace it across the board.

1

The link did not work.

Hmm. It's working for me and others?

3

Some prisons allow the prisoner a choice. It seems to have been a tradition. Many are switching off of that and giving them limited or no choice.
Personally, I oppose the death penalty. It is not that I believe "all life is sacred" because there are some people out there who should not be walking the Earth. That said, I do not believe that a nation should, at anytime, kill one of their own citizens.

Respect for life should extend beyond "their own citizens". If the US had respect for the lives of the civilians it Carpet bombed in Vietnam and Cambodia then maybe it would have more respect for the lives of it's "own citizens".

@dermot235 My choice of words even irritated me. I agree that "own citizens" was poor wording.

@Beowulfsfriend @dermot235 Well said.

5

Very interesting piece....food for thought if you can pardon the expression!

3

BLM, social equality and equal justice under the law for all would do more than anything else.

5

I would probably eat the least healthy food you could eat. A brimming bowl of lard blended with high fructose corn syrup.

You forgot the whipped cream & maraschino cherry on top!

@AnneWimsey heavy whipping cream. Make sure the cherry has that red dye that's carcinogenic

@barjoe freakin A! The best thing about the 2nd (& last ex!) was, I "had" to eat any whipped cream that got contaminated by cherry juice. ...throw me in that briar patch!

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