Some have eaten theirs as much as 12 hours before they are scheduled to die. Besides their requested last meal, inmates can still eat what other prisoners are having on execution day. The culinary tastes of Oklahoma's condemned range from barbecue to Chinese. Catfish is the most requested last meal, with convicted killers Robyn Leroy Parks, Olan Randle Robinson, Cornel Cooks, Ronald Keith Boyd and Charles Foster requesting the dish. Michael Roberts asked for a Cornish game hen, but prison officials could not find one locally and he had to go without it.
Some inmates are downright picky.
Convicted killer Thomas Grasso, executed in 1995, complained when he was brought the wrong brand of spaghetti rings he requested. Often the condemned ask for food from a certain restaurant or chain, but corrections officials no longer reveal the source of the food or give brand names. Someone may take offense to them providing meals. They don't need the attention. Ray Page, warden of the prison in McAlester in the 1960s, remembered 1 inmate who asked that Mr. Page's wife cook him a last meal of pheasant.