An inmate on death row has requested that his last meal instead be used to provide a food for a homeless person.

Don Johnson did not put a request in for his last meal, according to the state’s Department of Correction, and will instead be served the same menu as the rest of the inmates at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, WSMV News 4 reports.

According to Johnson’s public defender, Kelley Henry, Johnson’s decision was inspired by his friend Philip Workman, who requested that a vegetarian pizza be delivered to a homeless person instead of a last meal before he was executed in 2007.

Although Workman’s request was not honoured, Henry told WSMV News 4 that “benefactors across the country delivered pizzas to homeless shelters in response”.

“Mr Johnson realises that his $20 allotment will not feed many homeless people,” Henry added. “His request is that those who have supported him provide a meal to a homeless person.”

Death row in California's San Quentin prison Show all 8 1 /8 Death row in California's San Quentin prison Death row in California's San Quentin prison A condemned inmate exercises in a cage out in the yard of San Quentin prison Getty Death row in California's San Quentin prison San Quentin State Prison opened in 1852 and is California's oldest penitentiary. The facility houses the state's only death row for men that currently has 700 condemned inmates Getty Death row in California's San Quentin prison The lethal injection facility at San Quentin prison AP Death row in California's San Quentin prison A condemned inmate stands in a cell out in the yard of San Quentin prison Getty Death row in California's San Quentin prison An armrest in the interior of the lethal injection facility at San Quentin prison AP Death row in California's San Quentin prison A cell on death row in San Quentin Getty Death row in California's San Quentin prison A cage on death row in San Quentin Getty Death row in California's San Quentin prison A cell on death row in San Quentin Getty

Johnson, 68, was sentenced to death in 1984 for the murder of his wife Connie Johnson.

Johnson was denied clemency on Wednesday (AP)

In an effort to delay his execution, several religious leaders called for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to grant Johnson clemency on the basis of religious conversion, as the inmate is now a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

However, Johnson's execution will take place on Thursday after Lee announced his decision to deny Johnson clemency on Wednesday.

“After a prayerful and deliberate consideration of Don Johnson‘s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and will not be intervening," Lee said in a statement.

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