By Ewan Gleadow

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A Death Row inmate whose food order included steaks, burgers, and a “pound of chicken” refused to eat the food for a bizarre reason . Lawrence Brewer made history not just with his order but with how the state of Texas decided to deal with his reason for not finishing the food prepared for him. Brewer, who was executed on September 21, 2011 for the murder of James Byrd Jr., told the court he had “no regrets” for his hand in the murder. Byrd Jr. was killed on June 7, 1998. Death Row inmate Brewer would make a mammoth menu request for his last meal, but his actions afterwards were so bad Texas has since suspended last meal requests for other inmates. Brewer would request a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover’s pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks . Despite following his request for the mountain of food, Brewer would refuse to eat any of it. He told prison officials he was simply not hungry. Because of this, Death Row inmates in Texas are served the same foods as regular inmates, even for their last meal. It’s a move which was made two decades on from James Edward Smith’s last meal request. While it wasn’t a wasteful pile of food, prison officials were unconvinced by his last meal request and refused to grant the prisoner his “lump of dirt”. Over a decade on from Brewer’s death, members of the public are still horrified by the strict rules against last meal requests now in place. One person took to the r/TodayILearned subreddit and wrote: “Well to be fair I wouldn’t have much of an appetite if I knew my death was right around the corner.” Another added: “I believe he is also the reason inmates on death row no longer get this privilege in whatever state it took place in. I want to say Texas?” A third replied: “That’s a mind numbingly stupid excuse. Put a f***ing price limit on it, bam all better.” Others believe Brewer ordered the mountain of food just to mess with guards in the prison wing. One person wrote: “I really doubt he ordered all that food thinking he could eat it and then out of nowhere decided he wasn’t hungry, he ordered to much planning to not eat it, to screw with them.” American officials at the time say the food order from Brewer was a breaking point for the Death Row system. Senator John Whitmire told prison officials to can the last meal requests, saying “enough is enough.” He added: “It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.” Texas has not offered last meal requests since.