Outline
Circulating report claims that a Texas death row inmate convicted of murder and cannibalism has requested a little boy as his last meal and that the Department of Corrections has accepted the request. The report features a photograph of the supposed inmate.
Brief Analysis
The claims in the story are utter nonsense. No such request has been made. Nor, of course, would Department of Corrections ever honour such a request. The photograph in the report shows a person arrested on another charge. The story spread via a report published on a fake-news website that purports to be satirical.
Example
ABILENE, TX–Stephen K. Walker, French M. Robertson Unit inmate in Abilene, Texas, is on death row for murder and cannibalism of the 2006 case that sentenced him to death.
When asked what he would want his final meal to be, he said with no hesitation, ‘A little boy.’;
The Department of Corrections are supposed to accept all the demands of any kind. So it was initially thought that they were buying a corpse in a morgue to satisfy the desires of Stephen Walker.But tables turned when it was said that they were trying to find a toddler from a third world country and buy him/her alive within a budget of $25,000.
Detailed Analysis
According to a report circulating via social media, a death row inmate in Texas has asked for a child as his last meal. The report claims that the inmate, Stephen K. Walker, who was sentenced to death for murder and cannibalism requested ‘a little boy’ when asked what he wanted for his last meal.
And, claims the report, the Department of Corrections is obligated to honour the grisly request and is considering buying a toddler from a third world country to give to the prisoner.
But, of course, the claims in the report are utter nonsense. No such request has been made and there is no death row prisoner named Stephen K. Walker.
And, even if a prisoner did make such a sickening request, prison authorities would certainly not comply.
There is a death row tradition that allows inmates to request anything they want for a last meal. But, there is no law or rule that compels prison authorities to honour such requests. Prisoners do not always get the exact meal they have requested. ‘Last meals’ are generally limited to food that can be prepared on site.
And, it is utterly absurd to suggest that any prison authority would commit the obscene and obviously illegal act of buying a child and having him killed so that a convicted killer could eat him.
The fake report was published and promoted by Hip Hop Hangover, a fake-news website that claims to be satirical. And, it appears that Hip Hop hangover and other fake-news sites lifted the story from an earlier report on a Belgian satire site.
The image used in this version of the fake report shows, not a death row prisoner, but rather a man arrested for assault after a road rage incident that occurred in Florida in April 2014.
Given the increasing number of fake-news websites that have appeared on the Internet in recent years, it is always a good idea to verify any ‘news’ reports that come your way before you share them.
A quick search on a news portal such as Google News will usually be enough to ascertain if a circulating story is true.
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/hoax-death-row-inmate-requests-child-as-last-meal/