Folsom's 93

The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison's Executed Men

Monthly Archives: April 2012


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The Death Row Chef

Continuing with last meals, I wanted to share a link that my friend Pamela Skjolsvik, a.k.a. The Death Writer, sent me. Check it out HERE. Brian Price is a former Texas inmate who learned to cook during his incarceration. He earned the job of providing the last meal for the condemned inmates of Texas. Last year, Texas discontinued this practice for the nearly executed. Price offered to continue the meals at his own expense. The state declined.

Price’s story will be featured on “Death Row: The Final 24 Hours” airing Monday, April 30, at 10 p.m. ET on the Discovery Channel.


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Last Suppers

Above is the last meal of a Texas man executed in November 2006. He requested two double-meat bacon burgers, Freedom Fries, BBQ ribs, onion rings, root beer soda, banana split ice cream, and peach cobbler.

This is one of 500 plates Julie Green, an art professor at Oregon State University, has painted over the last five years. She plans to paint fifty more per year until the death penalty is abolished. According to Julie, in Texas, a condemned inmate cannot request a steak. Or bubblegum. In Maryland, requests are not even offered.

There have been more humbled requests:

And of course, what I think we all want.

Julie’s plates have been displayed both nationally and internationally. In fact, her work was exhibited in the Fort Collins Museum of Modern Art where I live, but unfortunately, I missed it. To read more about Julie Green, Last Suppers, and her other work, visit her at GreenJulie. For more on Folsom’s last requests, you can read about them in a previous blog post.


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If you see me walking . . .

So this reminds me of the Aretha Franklin song, Walk On By. Absolutely no reference whatsoever, but it brings me to this: How the hell does an inmate walk away from Folsom prison? I’d love to ask Marco A. Cabrera who did just that on Sunday, April 15. Fortunately, police nabbed him less than 24 hours later, but are you kidding me? How does one escape from the city of Gray Granite?

In 1903, 13 prisoners escaped, using the Warden and other guards as human shields. At the time, the prison wasn’t surrounded by walls. So that, I understand. But so far, police haven’t figured out exactly how Cabrera “walked away” from the medium security prison, but they found him hiding in the bed of a truck Monday evening. The poor guy had “injuries from blackberry bushes.” Gosh, that sure makes up for his “assault with a firearm and injury to spouse” conviction. A true gent, this one.

Really though, how does one escape from Folsom prison? At least we know this: 98.7% of escapees since 1977 have been caught. How does that make you feel?