“DEAR GOVERNOR”
THE Podcast

Podcast Trailer

Since his final California state appeal at the end of last season, a stellar team of attorneys has assembled around Jarvis Jay Masters, pledging to represent his death penalty case at federal level. We will follow his riveting case and meet some of those experts as they work to help Jarvis find freedom after over forty years of incarceration. And we will dig deeper into facets of Jarvis’s life as well as the deeply flawed U.S. criminal justice system.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.1: "Last Best Chance"

Jarvis has now filed for appeal in the federal courts. What does that mean for him and the next steps in his pursuit to find justice? Hear from the experts and learn what awaits him on the horizon. Jarvis has requested that we dedicate this season of “Dear Governor,” to the late Michael Satris, who devoted his life to criminal justice reform and sat as second chair at Jarvis’ defense trial in the 80’s.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.2: "Buddhist on Death Row"

David Sheff, author of The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place, shares the story behind the story of Jarvis Masters and how the two of them forged a lasting friendship. Of David’s biography, His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes, “This book shows vividly how, even in the face of the greatest adversity, compassion and a warm-hearted concern for others bring peace and inner strength.”

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.3 “Finding Light in the Dark” *EXPLICIT

We find out why Jarvis Masters agreed to give permission and unfettered access to his story to the perfect stranger, resulting in a stunning and deeply moving biography about change and redemption, The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place, by David Sheff.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.4 “Lifelong Friends on Death Row”

When Jarvis Masters first entered the walls of San Quentin State Prison four decades ago, he was by his own admission angry and bitter, filled with vitriol pent up from a lifetime of abuse, neglect, and hopelessness. Were it not for the foresight and compassion of a singular woman (Melody Ermachild Chavis) at a very pivotal time in his life, Jarvis says he would have likely continued along the seemingly preordained pipeline from cradle to prison to casket.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.5 “Buddhist Chaplain on Death Row" *EXPLICIT

There is an adage made popular in 1954 by President Eisenhower, that there are “no atheists in a fox hole.” The idea behind the phrase is that anyone who finds themselves in a position of extreme stress, where death is all but imminent, he or she will seek comfort of a higher power. Meet the Buddhist Chaplain (Susan Shannon) who was instrumental in nurturing and reinforcing Jarvis’ burgeoning Buddhist mind.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing a petition on his behalf at www.change.org

Episode 2.6 “Searching for Humanity"

Dr. Craig Haney, who was called on by Jarvis Masters' legal defense team at his capital trial in 1989-90, is a social psychologist and distinguished professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Renowned for his longtime work on the front lines of the criminal justice system, and a pioneering scholar on the use of solitary confinement, Dr. Haney explains why "Jarvis’ case continues to haunt" him "to this day."

Dr. Haney’s latest groundbreaking book is Criminality in Context: The Psychological Foundations of Criminal Justice Reform.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.7 “The Hellhole"

The practice of solitary confinement goes by many names including "disciplinary confinement," "security housing," and "restricted housing." All are euphemisms to soften the harsh and torturous reality of solitary confinement. Jarvis shares how he was able to survive for 21 years locked away in a 9x4 cell 23-24 hours a day!

We feature solitary confinement expert Dr. Craig Haney, but will also hear from the co-founder of California Families Against Solitary Confinement and the Community Outreach Director of the Bail Project, Dolores Canales.

Dr. Craig Haney’s groundbreaking book is Criminality in Context: The Psychological Foundations of Criminal Justice Reform.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.8 “The Fall of the Death Penalty”

Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at the Marshall Project, shares the good news of his latest book, Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise & Fall of the Death Penalty.

Publishers Weekly called it “a nuanced and deeply reported account of evolving attitudes toward the death penalty in America… a thorough, finely written, and unflinching look at some of the most controversial aspects of the American justice system.”

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.9 “Black & Buddhist”

In February 2021, the Awake Network and Shambhala Publications hosted a free online event, “The Black and Buddhist Summit,” that attracted over 10,000 participants. We share Jarvis’ fireside chat at that convening as he talks about race, transformation and the experience of being Black while Buddhist on death row.

We also meet Pamela Ayo Yetunde, co-editor of Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Healing.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Episode 2.10 “Calling Death Row”

Jarvis' lead attorney and senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Michael Williams, joins us to share the latest updates on Jarvis' federal appeals process.

Plus, Jarvis is answering your questions! Please call the podcast and leave a message at 201-903-3575 or send us an email at AskJarvisMasters@Gmail.com.

If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters, please consider signing our petition at www.change.org.

Podcast Trailer

Introducing "Dear Governor"

Episode 1: "Jarvis and the Death Penalty"

The United States is the only western nation that continues to make a practice of executing its own citizens. Of late, the death penalty and the prevalence of wrongful convictions have been under the white-hot light spotlight in everything from our political discourse to our popular culture. Governor Gavin Newsom recently put a moratorium on the death penalty in California, based on research that estimates one in 25 (or 4% of) condemned prisoners are not guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced.

“Dear Governor” is an open letter introducing listeners to one such death row inmate, Jarvis Jay Masters, who has maintained he is not guilty of the crime for which he was sentenced almost 30 years ago. In this episode Jarvis poses the question, “how many guilty people must be put to death to justify the execution of one innocent man or woman?,” and, he invites listeners to answer this question for themselves. Jarvis also weighs in on the Coronavirus behind bars.

Meet Samara Gaev, a friend and mentee of Jarvis, and the Founder & Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, a social justice based, hip-hop theatre company. Samara and her team worked hand-in-hand with Jarvis to produce the original hip-hop musical, “Boxed in and Blacked Out In America,” which examines the impacts and practices of solitary confinement in US prisons, tracing Jarvis’s remarkable capacity for liberation within the walls of death row.

Episode 2: “A Long Time Waiting”

Host Corny Koehl attends the oral arguments for Jarvis Masters' final state appeal before the California Supreme Court. His writ of Habeas Corpus was filed back in 2005, and Jarvis has been languishing in wait all this time. As his appellate attorneys present new evidence that bolsters Jarvis' claims of innocence, will the Court decide to exonerate him or confirm his sentence to death?

Meet Connie Pham, an outspoken advocate for Jarvis. As a 15-year-old student, she was so moved by Jarvis’ first book, Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row, that she wrote to him, and they’ve maintained a close friendship ever since. Jarvis inspired her 2 decades of work in education with marginalized youth and adult immigrants.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 3: "Cradle to Prison"

Though only 6.5% of Californians are black, African Americans make up 29% of the prison population and 36% of those condemned to death. Jarvis was born into poverty and abuse so extreme, he shot past the “cradle to prison pipeline,” straight to the “cradle to death row pipeline.”

Enlil McRae, from the Truthworker Theatre Company, reads passages from Jarvis’s memoir, That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row. You will learn about Jarvis’ formative years, his struggles to survive and the foster parents who imprinted on him the meaning of love.

Meet David Sheff, author of a new biography on Jarvis, The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place. David has spent the last several years visiting with Jarvis, and has amassed hundreds of hours of interviews with him, and those whom had the greatest impact on Jarvis' life. David is also the author of the memoir, Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 4: "Righteous Anger"

The juvenile justice system taught Jarvis how to fight, and while still a boy, defined for him what it meant to be a man: fierce, angry and proud. There were times when he tried to rise above and escape the cradle to prison pipeline, but the gravitational pull was too strong to resist. Excerpting sections of his memoir, That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row, we will hear how Jarvis had to fight to survive, and about the “damn fool behavior,” he admits initially put him in prison at the ripe young age of 19.

Meet Marty Krasney, a decades-long friend and confidante of Jarvis' and the former Executive Director of Dalai Lama Fellows.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Bonus Episode: #PodcastBlackOut -"On the Loss of George Floyd"

To share in the sorrow, and join in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many more families of color who have lost loved ones for absolutely no reason; to show respect to the hundreds of thousands of courageous individuals across the country protesting injustice and brutality; and to use our voices to echo the self-evident truth that BLACK LIVES MATTER, this week, “Dear Governor,” is disrupting our regular feed in order to participate in the #PodcastBlackOut.

Jarvis Jay Masters weighs in on the loss of George Floyd, the civil unrest, and the vitality of the Black Lives Matter movement.

We also share the stories (since 2010) of so many men of color who were sentenced to death, only to be found innocent after decades in prison.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 5: “The Death Penalty: an Insider’s POV”

For obvious reasons, Jarvis has a very personal take on the morality and ethics of capital punishment. Having been an inmate at San Quentin for 40 years, he has personally known men who have been executed. He has counseled fellow inmates who suffer from great depression, as they face their own mortality daily. And, he believes that if people on the outside knew that there were innocent people on death row, they could not in good conscience allow the government to execute them.

You will also hear from the lead executioner who was in charge at San Quentin on the day of the murder in which Jarvis was implicated.

Meet Ven. Pema Chodron, beloved Buddhist teacher, author and nun, who has been Jarvis’ spiritual advisor for over two decades.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 6: “Bloody Murder”

In this episode, we will hear details of the bloody murder of a corrections officer, the crime that landed Jarvis Masters on death row. You will hear Jarvis’ recollections of that fated night, along with the memories of the Head Warden who was in charge, and one of the attorneys that represented Jarvis at the murder trial in the late 1980’s. You will also learn the mind-blowing way in which Jarvis first learned that he was implicated in the conspiracy to commit murder.

Meet Michael Satris, a defense attorney that sat second chair on Jarvis’ murder trial and believes it a travesty that Jarvis is still in prison, much less on death row.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 7: “Sentenced to Death”

Jarvis was charged with the conspiracy to commit murder back in 1985, and was sentenced to death in June of 1990. Find out why Jarvis, who never stabbed the corrections officer was sentenced to death, while two others involved in the murder, for whom there was much more damning evidence, were sentenced to life without parole. Hear about his case, and learn about the notorious prison snitches who testified on behalf of the state to implicate Jarvis to the murder.

Hear Jarvis’ haunting PEN Award-winning poem, “Recipe for Prison Pruno,” which intertwines his death sentence with his now famous recipe for prison hooch.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Episode 8: “Sentenced to Death, Again”

This verdict is in. And despite all of the compelling new evidence that bolsters Jarvis’ innocence, the California Supreme Court chose to confirm his death sentence. You will hear Jarvis’ reaction to the Court's decision, and what this means for the future of his life. The vast majority of the legal insights into Jarvis’ substantial claims of innocence were published in the Journal of Law and Social Policy article “Unrequited Innocence in U.S. Capital Cases: Unintended Consequences of the Fourth Kind” by Rob Warden and John Seasly.

The late Geronimo Pratt was imprisoned at San Quentin for 27 years for a murder he did not commit and awarded $4.5 million from federal and local governments as a settlement in a wrongful-imprisonment lawsuit. While at San Quentin, he befriended Jarvis. Hear him bearing witness to his young friend, at the launch for Jarvis’ first book, “Finding Freedom, Writings from Death Row,” back in 1997.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.

Bonus Episode – 1.2: "Covid Meets Incompetence”

Due to the coronavirus, all phone communications in and out of San Quentin have been cut off. Like a wildfire, COVID-19 has devastated the prison. The last we heard from Jarvis Masters, he had been ravaged by the virus. It is unconscionable that family members and friends have no idea how their loved ones are faring on the inside. Dear Governor Newsom, Jarvis has a solution. On behalf of Jarvis, Actor Dion Graham voices his plea.

Last week Shambhala Publications reissued Jarvis' first autobiographical book, FINDING FREEDOM: HOW DEATH ROW BROKE AND OPENED MY HEART. The audiobook is also available at Audible.

Jarvis’s op-ed in the Guardian, “Letting Prisoners Use Cellphones Makes Sense – Now More Than Ever” was published on May 22, 2020.

The theme song "SENTENCED," is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album Set In Stone.