My book, Meals To Die For, is my personal account(taken from my journal that I kept during my 10-year tenure as Texas' death row chef) of what went on behind the scenes, so to speak, on the day a condemned inmate was brought to the Walls Unit prison to be executed. I wrote about the crimes these men and women committed, their time spent on death row awaiting their executions, their last meal requests, and their final statements. I have also included their mug-shots, and approximately 80 of the the last meal requests, written by the condemned themselves.
Meals To Die For also has 43 of my own recipes that I used in preparation of the last meals. The morbid names of these recipes were created as a parallel, dark-humored to some, in an effort to portray the dramatically structured executions, and the crimes committed by the condemned, in the same light--jet black.
Meals To Die For is my attempt to humanize these now departed souls who many claim should not done. But to put a face to the number, and to the words these men and women spoke moments before they left this world, and to the meal that they chose to be their last on earth, does indeed humanize those executed by Texas USA.
My book, I pray, will prompt those who read it to rethink their being for, or against, capital punishment. When reading about the crimes these men and women committed, some who are against the death penalty may consider it a just punishment in some cases.
On the other hand, those who are for capital punishment should try and put the face on someone they really, really love on that gurney of death, and invision themselves in the witnessing area of the death chamber watching their loved one die like a euthanized dog only three feet away and nothing they can do to stop it.
I reveal things that have been hidden to the public by the Texas Department of Corrections, and also shine a different light on some of the officers and officials in charge of carrying out the state's homicide by lethal injection. Everyone who has read my book, so far, say that they couldn't put it down. See if you can.
Meals To Die For also has 43 of my own recipes that I used in preparation of the last meals. The morbid names of these recipes were created as a parallel, dark-humored to some, in an effort to portray the dramatically structured executions, and the crimes committed by the condemned, in the same light--jet black.
Meals To Die For is my attempt to humanize these now departed souls who many claim should not done. But to put a face to the number, and to the words these men and women spoke moments before they left this world, and to the meal that they chose to be their last on earth, does indeed humanize those executed by Texas USA.
My book, I pray, will prompt those who read it to rethink their being for, or against, capital punishment. When reading about the crimes these men and women committed, some who are against the death penalty may consider it a just punishment in some cases.
On the other hand, those who are for capital punishment should try and put the face on someone they really, really love on that gurney of death, and invision themselves in the witnessing area of the death chamber watching their loved one die like a euthanized dog only three feet away and nothing they can do to stop it.
I reveal things that have been hidden to the public by the Texas Department of Corrections, and also shine a different light on some of the officers and officials in charge of carrying out the state's homicide by lethal injection. Everyone who has read my book, so far, say that they couldn't put it down. See if you can.
With all respect,
Brian D. Price
Author
