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?”

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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 AskJarvisMasters@Gmail.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host, Corny Koehl, attends the oral arguments for Jarvis Master’s 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’s 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’s first book, “Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row,” that she wrote to him behind bars, and they’ve maintained a close friendship ever since. 

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, AskJarvisMasters@Gmail.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.