Dear Governor

In issuing his moratorium on capital punishment in California, Governor Gavin Newsom went on record saying he believes there are innocent people on Death Row. “Dear Governor” invites the listener to get to know Jarvis Jay Masters, a condemned prisoner who has maintained his innocence for over 30 years. After sharing intimate details of his life story and his ongoing legal case, we ask the listener to answer for themselves, “Is the death penalty a necessary evil to keep our streets safe, to exact righteous punishment and to deliver a semblance of justice to victims – or is it too fraught with ambiguity, contradictions and biases to ensure that we are all protected equally under the law?” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To share in the sorrow, and join in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Brianna 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 the 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. Death row inmate, Jarvis J. Masters weighs in on the loss of George Floyd, the civil unrest, and the vitality of the Black Lives Matter movement. And we share the stories of so many men of color who were sentenced to death, only to be found innocent after decades in prison. Theme song SENTENCED, is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album “Set In Stone.” Have a question for Jarvis that you’d like to hear him answer on the podcast, please leave a message on our hotline: 201-903-3575 or, [email protected] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 released Jarvis’s latest autobiographical book, FINDING FREEDOM: HOW DEATH ROW BROKE AND OPENED MY HEART. Also available at Audible. Jarvis’s op-ed, “Letting prisoners use cellphones makes sense – now more than ever.” Theme song SENTENCED, is complements of the band Stick Figure, from their album “Set In Stone.” Have a question for Jarvis that you’d like to hear him answer on the podcast, please leave a message on our hotline: 201-903-3575 or, [email protected] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since his final state appeal at the end of last season, a stellar team of attorneys has assembled around Jarvis 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 criminal justice system. If you’d like to support Jarvis Masters’s cause, please considering signing a petition on his behalf at www.freejarvis.org  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 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 & practices of solitary confinement in US prisons, tracing Jarvis’s remarkable capacity for liberation within the walls of death row. Have a question for Jarvis that yo"u’d like to hear him answer on the podcast, please leave a message on our hotline: 201-903-3575 or [email protected] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.