Jarvis Issues Statement for Press Event at CA Anti-Death Penalty Coalition Lobby Day

The California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition organized a Lobby Day in Sacramento on March 11, 2020 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the statewide moratorium on executions, and invited Jarvis to issue a statement about racial discrimination for the event’s press conference. Jarvis’ statement honed in on a racial disparity often overlooked: the underrepresentation of racial minorities within the legal professions—and its devastating effects on defendants of color.

Statement for CA State Anti-Death Penalty Coalition Lobby Day 2020 Press Event

My name is Jarvis Jay Masters. I'm an innocent man living on California’s Death Row at San Quentin State Prison. I have spent more than half my life awaiting execution for a crime I did not commit. Of my 39 years here, 21 of those were spent in solitary confinement. As one out of 720+ condemned prisoners, I'm happy to lend my voice to this state abolition coalition because those most affected by the death penalty should be heard. I am uncompromising in my opposition to capital punishment as well as life without parole (which is the death penalty by another name).

One of the biggest problems with the death penalty is its racial disparities, not only in sentencing, but as reflected in the underrepresentation of minorities within the legal professions. Last week I had a legal visit with my attorney and saw what I’ve seen for decades in the rows of visitation cages: most of the inmates were black and brown (63% of condemned inmates are minorities) but every legal representative, investigator, and lawyer, was white, including my own. This scarcity of equal representation has a serious and far-reaching impact on capital cases. No matter how committed and well-intentioned white lawyers and investigators are, they've held vastly different life experiences and worldviews, which affect how they interact with their clients and collect evidence. For example, I’ve heard inmates observe over the years, “My legal team don’t know a damn thing about what it was like where I grew up, and they're scared to go to those projects to find the evidence and truth." White representatives may be reluctant to go to Black neighborhoods to find witnesses or meet family members. When they do venture out, they may find doors literally closed to them--due to the lack of trust in law enforcement in poor communities of color. Just as the movement for community policing aims to build positive relationships from the ground up, legal defense advocates must also find a way to establish rapport with communities of color.

While I am an award-winning writer of two books and many stories, with a wide circle of readers and friends, my white lawyers can’t fully grasp the powerlessness and violence that have marked my life from childhood until today, a history that has led me to death row in spite of my innocence. The implications for me and other prisoners are devastating. We must confront systemic racism and the white privilege inherent in it if things are to change.

There is no easy fix here, but a critical piece of criminal justice reform is the need for more legal representatives of color. We must address the racial imbalance between inmates and the people who represent them. Our lawyers, law firms, and law schools must make extraordinary efforts to recruit, retain, and develop professionals of color to serve the needs of people of color on death rows and in all prisons.  Until then, I urge all lawmakers and citizens to consider the tragic implications of a legal system marked by such racial imbalances.

Thank you,
Jarvis Jay Masters
East Block, San Quentin State Prison, CA