Why is the last-meal ritual for death-sentenced prisoners followed?

Why is the last-meal ritual for death-sentenced prisoners followed?

Before Wuhan got famous now, for COVID-19, Wuhan was famous once in 2011, when guards were seen helping a woman convict choose the final outfit.

A criminal of any heinous crime is sentenced to death and in most cases the prisoner is allowed a 'last meal' which is a customary ritual that precedes execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, in most cases, select what the last meal will be. Note: Any food item maybe given except alcohol, tobacco and of course drugs.

Before Wuhan got famous now, for COVID-19, Wuhan was famous once in 2011, when guards were seen helping a woman convict choose the final outfit.

It is not mandated by prison codes. Yet prison authorities often end up allowing the prisoner a few final treats, within reason. This could simply reflect the fact that jailers are human too and, having had contact with the prisoner, can't reduce him or her to the abstraction condemned by the law.

Nirbhaya’s 4 rapists hanged at Tihar jail

Though India does not keep a record of the last meals, it was noted that Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani militant who was involved in 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in Maharashtra, did not want any fancy foods, but only wanted few tomatoes. He ate a tomato along with "jail food", and had two cups of masala tea. He also drank four bottles of mineral water.

Also, during the day of the hanging of Nirbhaya convicts, the four men refused to have their breakfast, their last meal before being taken to the gallows and were up much of the night, prison officials. They were asked to take a bath but none of them did.

In the US, last meal requests are a subject of popular interest. The Texas department of criminal justice used to list on its website the last meals of those executed by them. But it stopped fulfilling every request in full after one prisoner requested an incredibly large meal (two steaks, an omelette, okra, barbecue, pizza, ice-cream, fudge, soft drinks), but then didn’t eat any of it. And as a ritual, the last meal is intended not to comfort the condemned but to soften for society the harsh fact that a human is about to be killed with the law's full sanction, says Jon Sheldon, a Virginia death penalty lawyer.

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