1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Dear Governor is a production of I Heart Media and

2
00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:06,760
Speaker 1: three Months Media. If you are moved by Jarvis Masters

3
00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,320
Speaker 1: and his thirty years struggle on San Quentin's Death Throw,

4
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,760
Speaker 1: and you'd like to support his cause, please consider signing

5
00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: a petition on his behalf. Visit Free Jarvis dot org

6
00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: slash podcast to sign your name to an open letter

7
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:26,120
Speaker 1: to California Governor Gavin Newsom. Dear Governor Newsom, Dear Mr

8
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:31,640
Speaker 1: Governor Newsom. This is an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom,

9
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:44,320
Speaker 1: Dear Governor Newsom. Public Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chodren writes,

10
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,280
Speaker 1: I'm grateful to be Jarvis Masters teacher in part because

11
00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,760
Speaker 1: he has taught me so much. I have rarely encountered

12
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 1: anyone who expresses the essence of Buddhism in a clearer,

13
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,320
Speaker 1: more moving way than he does, And I deeply admire

14
00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,720
Speaker 1: how David Chef has capture that hard one wisdom in

15
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,960
Speaker 1: his book The Buddhist on Death Row, how one man

16
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,880
Speaker 1: found light in the darkest place. In the last episode

17
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,400
Speaker 1: we heard from David and why and how he chose

18
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,039
Speaker 1: to spend years writing the story of Jarvis's life. I

19
00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,760
Speaker 1: wanted to hear Jarvis's side of the story why he

20
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,080
Speaker 1: agreed to give permission an unfettered access to his story

21
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 1: to a perfect stranger. Let me just say something about

22
00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:29,319
Speaker 1: David and my relationship. It went so fast, I mean

23
00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:35,440
Speaker 1: in terms of our relationship as to human beings, him

24
00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:40,080
Speaker 1: trying to understand my life and me having the ability

25
00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,200
Speaker 1: to trust him in ways that I've never trust anyone

26
00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,120
Speaker 1: telling that story. I think one of the reasons why

27
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,320
Speaker 1: I gave a lot of trust to him that I

28
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:55,880
Speaker 1: would not have anyone else's because he read my two books.

29
00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 1: He read That Bird Has My Wings and he read

30
00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: Finding Freedom. So he came with a understanding of where

31
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: I understood my life and he followed up on that.

32
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,960
Speaker 1: It was not, you know, me having to tell him

33
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,320
Speaker 1: about a lot of scenes, a lot of experiences that

34
00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,880
Speaker 1: I had without him already knowing about it. So he

35
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:24,079
Speaker 1: came to me with an idea of just continuing that

36
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,640
Speaker 1: story in a way that would impact more people. You know,

37
00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,440
Speaker 1: I was all for that, but I also knew that

38
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,120
Speaker 1: there was gonna be a lot that I didn't write

39
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,280
Speaker 1: about that he was going to write about, and not

40
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 1: all of it was gonna be you know what, I

41
00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,720
Speaker 1: would have said, you know, but I was fine with it.

42
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,919
Speaker 1: I was fine with it because my story was out

43
00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,600
Speaker 1: in front of his and that's just the way I

44
00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,880
Speaker 1: felt about it. Were you nervous about what he might

45
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,560
Speaker 1: find out was or what he might write about since

46
00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 1: he didn't have any control over it. I don't want

47
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,640
Speaker 1: to say I didn't care, but I would say that

48
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,400
Speaker 1: I trusted him to care about what he thought would

49
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 1: be the best thing to tell people about me. Why

50
00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,400
Speaker 1: did you trust me with it? I don't know. My

51
00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,120
Speaker 1: whole attitude was that my story was out there, and

52
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,360
Speaker 1: I put it out there. So whatever you guys do,

53
00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,840
Speaker 1: I don't you know you're gonna do it. He's not

54
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 1: the district attorney's office. He's not someone who's prosecuting me,

55
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,760
Speaker 1: and anyone's absent of that has to have something good

56
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,240
Speaker 1: to say about me. Um. And plus, you know what,

57
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,920
Speaker 1: Cornea was tired. I was really tired. I mean it

58
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: was some time after I lost my appeal, and it

59
00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: was just I wasn't trying to you know, I didn't

60
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,240
Speaker 1: have that kind of energy no more, you know, um.

61
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 1: And it was all about finding someone you can trust,

62
00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,520
Speaker 1: you know, because it my belief and I tell guys

63
00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,480
Speaker 1: that around here, you know, you got to trust somebody.

64
00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 1: At some point, you're going to trust somebody because if

65
00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,080
Speaker 1: we don't trust no one, then there's nothing gonna happen.

66
00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,560
Speaker 1: You You, I can bet you nothing's going to happen.

67
00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,400
Speaker 1: So you know, you trust someone and let it, let it,

68
00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,479
Speaker 1: let it go where it's gonna go, you know. Um.

69
00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,719
Speaker 1: But it was interesting when I felt interesting about David

70
00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,080
Speaker 1: and I write, you know, him writing that book was

71
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:35,680
Speaker 1: that he was asking some really really good questions that

72
00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,600
Speaker 1: I had not thought about, you know, and I became

73
00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,919
Speaker 1: interested in how is he going to write this? You

74
00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,520
Speaker 1: know as a writer? You know, can you an example

75
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:53,159
Speaker 1: like a question that was out of the blue, His

76
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,599
Speaker 1: understanding of what happened to me as a child, you know,

77
00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 1: his understanding of of how uh I end up going

78
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,559
Speaker 1: back down to Los Angeles as you know, um, after

79
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:11,720
Speaker 1: I was released from the California Youth Authority. Um. Him

80
00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:15,919
Speaker 1: seeing the more better than me, the good some good

81
00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: things about me that I had not wrote about because

82
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,000
Speaker 1: I just didn't think that was the story of my life.

83
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,120
Speaker 1: And he said, you Arsad, is the story of your life.

84
00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,600
Speaker 1: Following is an excerpt from the Buddhist on Death Row,

85
00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,800
Speaker 1: in which David describes how Jarvis's traumatic childhood influenced some

86
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,320
Speaker 1: of the Buddhist beliefs he embraces today. Audiobook read by

87
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:43,280
Speaker 1: Michael Boatman. Jarvis was placed in nine foster homes and

88
00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:48,160
Speaker 1: three boys homes, including some in which he was starved, beaten,

89
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,320
Speaker 1: and kept in squalor. At thirteen, he was moved from

90
00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,560
Speaker 1: the foster care system into the Division of Juvenile Justice,

91
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,599
Speaker 1: where the brutal treatment escalated. When he was arrested for

92
00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:06,320
Speaker 1: petty crimes stealing a bicycle joy riding. He was placed

93
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,520
Speaker 1: in youth detention centers, where he was subjected to more beatings, burned,

94
00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:15,080
Speaker 1: locked in closets, and made to pummel other boys. If

95
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,400
Speaker 1: he refused, counselors beat him harder. He ran away when

96
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,520
Speaker 1: he could, and often found his way back to Harbor City,

97
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,000
Speaker 1: where he sometimes stayed with his aunt, Cynthia's sister Barbary.

98
00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,880
Speaker 1: There was always music playing. Barbery played the same records

99
00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:39,080
Speaker 1: over and over, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, the Delphonics, She

100
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,400
Speaker 1: Loved a song by George Clinton's Funkadelic Free Your Mind

101
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,800
Speaker 1: and Your Ass will follow and must have played at

102
00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,240
Speaker 1: a thousand times. Jarvis laughed to himself at the thought

103
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,719
Speaker 1: of who had helped him understand the words of a

104
00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:59,120
Speaker 1: great lama from Tibet, George Clinton. He said it aloud,

105
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:22,760
Speaker 1: Free your mind and your ass will follow. According to

106
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,040
Speaker 1: the Rand Corporation Inmate Survey, about fift of people in

107
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,760
Speaker 1: prison claim innocence of their convicted crime, and yet the

108
00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:34,200
Speaker 1: National Academy of Sciences has determined that only four percent

109
00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,720
Speaker 1: of those on death row are truly innocent. I wanted

110
00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:39,960
Speaker 1: to hear from David as to why he was so

111
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: steadfast and his conclusions that Jarvis is innocent of the

112
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,120
Speaker 1: crime that he was convicted of. I started to read

113
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,560
Speaker 1: everything I could about Jarvis, and I went up to

114
00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,160
Speaker 1: his lawyer at the time of lawyer with Joe Baxter.

115
00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,840
Speaker 1: And I went up to Joe's offices in Santa Rosa

116
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: and there was a wall full of boxes filled with

117
00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 1: documents from years and years and years of lidication related

118
00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,800
Speaker 1: to his appeal. And I read volumes, and the more

119
00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,800
Speaker 1: I read, the more I was convinced, beyond the shadow

120
00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,080
Speaker 1: of a doubt that you know that's the legal term.

121
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:13,960
Speaker 1: You know, he he was innocent and he should not

122
00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:19,280
Speaker 1: be there. He had a trial that was appalling. You know,

123
00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:24,680
Speaker 1: he there was no justice in this trial, and there

124
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,200
Speaker 1: was no reason that Jobs should be in prison. And um,

125
00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,720
Speaker 1: so I became I feel like, there's a controvertible person.

126
00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,160
Speaker 1: He's innocent and he was framed, and that he shouldn't

127
00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:38,920
Speaker 1: be there. Are you against the death penalty as a rule?

128
00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,800
Speaker 1: I am. I feel like the death penalty for both

129
00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,640
Speaker 1: moral reasons, and I get well, it all comes down

130
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,679
Speaker 1: to moral reasons, but a lot of it also is

131
00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:53,960
Speaker 1: the reality that I feel like, even if you understand,

132
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,120
Speaker 1: I mean, I do think a lot about it's easy

133
00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:57,720
Speaker 1: for me to say I don't believe in the death

134
00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,640
Speaker 1: penalty if somebody murdered, you know, the people closest to me, um,

135
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,120
Speaker 1: my child, or my life and my parents or somebody

136
00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,920
Speaker 1: you know what I steal still feel that way, um,

137
00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:11,640
Speaker 1: and I think it's a little presumptuous for me to

138
00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,439
Speaker 1: say that I would. I would, I hope I would.

139
00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,600
Speaker 1: But regardless of that, we have to end the death

140
00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,760
Speaker 1: penalty because it's not I mean, if there was a

141
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 1: way to know the people that we were executing we're

142
00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:31,200
Speaker 1: guilty of crimes, then you know, and if you buy

143
00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,280
Speaker 1: the death penalty, then maybe that's you know that you

144
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,120
Speaker 1: can go there. But you know, if we execute one

145
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,120
Speaker 1: person who's innocent and we know that we have um,

146
00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,600
Speaker 1: nobody should support the death penalty because then we are

147
00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,480
Speaker 1: becoming murderers, just like you know, other killers. When get

148
00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:47,680
Speaker 1: let out, where are you going to take him? What's

149
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:49,559
Speaker 1: the first thing you're going to do with him? You

150
00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,839
Speaker 1: know what, I've whatever he wants to do. But the

151
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 1: thing that I've always fantasized with him because I spent

152
00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,120
Speaker 1: so much time because I'm a surfer and being outdoors

153
00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,760
Speaker 1: and being on the beaches, so my it rejuvenates me,

154
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:03,640
Speaker 1: you know, when I'm stressed out about I'm having a

155
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,040
Speaker 1: hard time's uh, you know, I think about Jarvis a

156
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:08,880
Speaker 1: lot when I'm out there to walking on the beach,

157
00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:12,040
Speaker 1: and I would just, you know, give anything to be

158
00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,760
Speaker 1: able to take that walk with him. He calls himself

159
00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,600
Speaker 1: a fish too. He loved the water. Yeah. I mean

160
00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,480
Speaker 1: some of the things that you know are I don't

161
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:21,480
Speaker 1: even know if they're in the book anymore because I

162
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,080
Speaker 1: can't remember what was cutting what wasn't cut at different points.

163
00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,280
Speaker 1: But you know the fact that you know, everybody has

164
00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,560
Speaker 1: this black and white idea, this cliche of what Jarvis's

165
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,320
Speaker 1: life is like, and a lot of it was that,

166
00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,800
Speaker 1: you know, that violent, brutal life, you know, gangs and

167
00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,800
Speaker 1: drugs and violence, but you know, there were these moments

168
00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: of joy and of you know that, like when Jarvis

169
00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,680
Speaker 1: told me that this kid took him out to learn

170
00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,319
Speaker 1: how to go abaloney diving, It was like, no, you

171
00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,040
Speaker 1: have this rich life. Yeah, everybody who's listened to this

172
00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:58,680
Speaker 1: podcast knows Jarvis's amazing sense of humor that he's able

173
00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,400
Speaker 1: to maintain that would you true to h We laughed

174
00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,679
Speaker 1: so much over the years. Jarvis was so funny and

175
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,679
Speaker 1: we just, oh, my god. You know, I don't even

176
00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,600
Speaker 1: know if he knows how funny is. Sometimes we'll say

177
00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,800
Speaker 1: things and I think it's just who he is. I

178
00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:16,480
Speaker 1: think it's his spirit and the fact that he was

179
00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,680
Speaker 1: able to retain that sense of humor over the course

180
00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,040
Speaker 1: of years as being brutalized says something about his self.

181
00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,400
Speaker 1: It's who he is deep down inside. And it also

182
00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,200
Speaker 1: says something about the way he can he views the world.

183
00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,120
Speaker 1: And maybe part of the reason he survived and such

184
00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,319
Speaker 1: you know, good shape, is that he often was able

185
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,680
Speaker 1: to see this light. And sometimes the humor was gallows humor,

186
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:46,199
Speaker 1: and sometimes you know, it was just silly, frivolous stuff

187
00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,600
Speaker 1: that would come up. But part of that being able

188
00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,120
Speaker 1: to laugh as well as to cry, because we did

189
00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,800
Speaker 1: cry a lot too together. It's part of his magic

190
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,520
Speaker 1: and maybe part of his survival. I know you interviewed

191
00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,480
Speaker 1: a number of his family members. I was just wondering

192
00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,240
Speaker 1: at that was a trait that was common in their family,

193
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,760
Speaker 1: in their dna um. You know who I did interview.

194
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:12,280
Speaker 1: I interviewed his father and his cousin, and it's definitely

195
00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,640
Speaker 1: a master's family trade. They laughed. It was the best was.

196
00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 1: I visited Jarvis's once with his father. The two of

197
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,120
Speaker 1: them spent the whole time laughing, teasing each other. You

198
00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:28,400
Speaker 1: know about God, they're old times about you know how

199
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,680
Speaker 1: you know how much we they gained? How much? How?

200
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,920
Speaker 1: Oh God. He definitely got some of his sense of

201
00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 1: humors from his family, from his dad, for sure, and

202
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,079
Speaker 1: I saw that. And when they laughed, by the way,

203
00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,360
Speaker 1: it was the same booming, infectious laugh. Besides Jarvis, in

204
00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,240
Speaker 1: writing the book, is there any other character that you

205
00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,760
Speaker 1: came upon that made a big impression on you? I know,

206
00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,000
Speaker 1: like Melody or my Child was the first person you

207
00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,680
Speaker 1: mentioned in the book. Well, Jarvis is sort of you know,

208
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:56,959
Speaker 1: it's an amazing person, so it's maybe not surprising that

209
00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,840
Speaker 1: he's surrounded by amazing people one after the other. Melody

210
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:06,679
Speaker 1: or a Child, you know, was the investigator who connected

211
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,600
Speaker 1: with Jarvis at the time when he was facing a

212
00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,440
Speaker 1: trial that ultimately led to the death penalty, and she

213
00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:15,280
Speaker 1: was with one and he talks about is the one

214
00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,040
Speaker 1: who really helped him more than anybody ever had in

215
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,400
Speaker 1: his life and opened them up to the idea that

216
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,320
Speaker 1: so sometimes we can't change her external circumstances, you know,

217
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,080
Speaker 1: we can control the way we perceive them and the

218
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,880
Speaker 1: way we feel inside and so that and she was

219
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,480
Speaker 1: totally inspiring to have a children. His teacher is, of course,

220
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,360
Speaker 1: one of the most amazing people I've ever met and

221
00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,960
Speaker 1: talked about, somebody who has helped millions of people and

222
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,240
Speaker 1: helped me at the personal level in my family. Susan Shannon,

223
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,319
Speaker 1: another Buddhist teacher who was the chaplain, one of the

224
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:55,319
Speaker 1: chaplains in the prison. She is this is remarkable. I

225
00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,000
Speaker 1: would talk to her sometimes and she loved Jarvis, and

226
00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,079
Speaker 1: she talked about you know working with Jarvis studying Buddhism

227
00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,880
Speaker 1: inside the prison. I mean, he just as this extraordinary person.

228
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: He grabs, you know, he brings for extraordinary people around him.

229
00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,200
Speaker 1: Rebecca sold It, you know, one of my idols and

230
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:15,439
Speaker 1: who I've always revered as a writer. You know, I

231
00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:19,520
Speaker 1: got her through Jarvis because she too a friend of

232
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,960
Speaker 1: Jarvis is and devoted to him. I'm blown away by

233
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,040
Speaker 1: everybody that I've met in his Indus circle, Like everybody,

234
00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,880
Speaker 1: everybody is an exceptional individual, absolutely, and they really are.

235
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,080
Speaker 1: And and you know there's the reason for that. Again.

236
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:39,560
Speaker 1: You know, people connect with him because he's very special

237
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,360
Speaker 1: and you know, and he connects with people who that's

238
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,200
Speaker 1: probably another Buddhist precept. We don't know that good energy

239
00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,280
Speaker 1: attracts good energy. Yeah, yeah, there is something about that,

240
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:52,440
Speaker 1: and there is this whole you know, the world of

241
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:56,680
Speaker 1: people around Jarvis also are um. The people around Jarvis

242
00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,600
Speaker 1: are also anybody who's gonna step foot in the prison.

243
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,880
Speaker 1: It says something about them if they're not being forced

244
00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:07,520
Speaker 1: with guards. Because we've changed. You've got to open and

245
00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,080
Speaker 1: be open and have a bigger heart than maybe he's

246
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,520
Speaker 1: expected to have a lot of people, because you have

247
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,880
Speaker 1: to understand and respect and be connected to the idea

248
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,760
Speaker 1: that people in prison are people. You know, any of

249
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,280
Speaker 1: them are innocent, but they're all people. And Jarvis talked

250
00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,480
Speaker 1: a lot about that. Yeah, what if it that Brian

251
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,520
Speaker 1: Stans have said that we are not our worst mistake,

252
00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:43,880
Speaker 1: We are so much more than that. Several years ago,

253
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,000
Speaker 1: Jarvis managed to get his hands on an illicit cell phone.

254
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,600
Speaker 1: David writes about it in the epilogue of The Buddhist

255
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:55,400
Speaker 1: on Death Row. My phone chimed at three am, alerting

256
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,760
Speaker 1: me that a text had arrived. Usually I turned it off,

257
00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,960
Speaker 1: and but I had forgotten. And I looked at the screen.

258
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,520
Speaker 1: The text came from an unidentified number. It read is

259
00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:13,480
Speaker 1: this working? Then the phone chimed a second time for

260
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:18,360
Speaker 1: a second text. This one was a photograph, a selfie

261
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,960
Speaker 1: dimly lit sitting in front of a Jimmy Hendricks poster.

262
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:30,880
Speaker 1: Was Jarvis grinning hugely. I responded, w t F. He

263
00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 1: wrote back, what does that mean? What the funk are

264
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:39,120
Speaker 1: you doing with a cell phone. It's no surprise that

265
00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,280
Speaker 1: cell phones are banned in San Quentin and other prisons

266
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:48,160
Speaker 1: where telephone access is strictly monitored and controlled. The prohibitions Notwithstanding,

267
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:52,160
Speaker 1: black market cell phones are thriving business in many prisons,

268
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,320
Speaker 1: including San Quentin. Jarvis bought his phone from an inmate,

269
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,400
Speaker 1: who probably bought it from a guard. Jarvis said it

270
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,760
Speaker 1: was better not to ask. A friend paid for cell

271
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:07,959
Speaker 1: service and Netflix. The seller's pitch included the promise of

272
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:12,520
Speaker 1: unlimited movies, so Jarvis was disappointed that the cellular signal

273
00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 1: through the prison walls was insufficient to allow streaming. His

274
00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,960
Speaker 1: phone got only one bar. However, necessity is the mother

275
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 1: of invention, and prisoners have a lot of time on

276
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,399
Speaker 1: their hands, so they often devise ingenious workarounds. Though the

277
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,960
Speaker 1: signal was still too weak for streaming, Jarvis learned that

278
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 1: he could use some phone apps offline. He could, for instance,

279
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,400
Speaker 1: take photos, make video and audio recordings, and attached them

280
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,360
Speaker 1: to texts, which he could then send if he put

281
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,359
Speaker 1: the phone in a laze potato chip bag attached to

282
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,640
Speaker 1: a wire and slid the package under the cell door

283
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,240
Speaker 1: and out into the corridor where the signal was stronger.

284
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,320
Speaker 1: A few phone calls got through, and he sent me

285
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,400
Speaker 1: pictures of his cell and his tear to can through

286
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 1: the mesh that covered the door. He also sent a

287
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,720
Speaker 1: recording of an inmate complaining that Jarvis's typing was too

288
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:12,120
Speaker 1: loud as he texted another friend, this phone blew my

289
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:17,240
Speaker 1: mind wide open. I mean ten twelve hours a day.

290
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,280
Speaker 1: If I had money, I could have ordered a pizza

291
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,120
Speaker 1: pizza emoji. He'd figured out how to use emojis. Could

292
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,960
Speaker 1: you see a pizza man at the front gate for

293
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:33,960
Speaker 1: a Jarvis Masters For almost four decades, Jarvis's access to

294
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:38,359
Speaker 1: technology was limited to TV, radio and the electric typewriter

295
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: Pamela had sent him when he was arrested at nineteen.

296
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,280
Speaker 1: There were no personal computers, never mind Internet or smartphones.

297
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,439
Speaker 1: Once in the two thousands, when he had been in

298
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,000
Speaker 1: the back of a prison van taking him to the hospital,

299
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,680
Speaker 1: he delighted in the sights of the Blue Bay, billowing

300
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,920
Speaker 1: white clouds, and the Golden hills in the distance. When

301
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,720
Speaker 1: he looked at street corners, he was shocked to see

302
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,240
Speaker 1: so many people talking to themselves. He remarked on it,

303
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,760
Speaker 1: and a guard told him they were on the phone,

304
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:14,880
Speaker 1: speaking through microphones and listening through earpieces. Other than that,

305
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,720
Speaker 1: the nearest he had got into modern technology was as

306
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:21,639
Speaker 1: it was depicted on TV, where it seemed like science fiction.

307
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,359
Speaker 1: David also shares what happened to Jarvis when he was

308
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 1: caught with the band's cell phone, along with a powerful

309
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,359
Speaker 1: gift of perspective from the eyes of a Buddhist practitioner.

310
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,879
Speaker 1: A couple of months after Jarvis got the phone, guards

311
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,000
Speaker 1: conducted a random search and found it The phone had

312
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,960
Speaker 1: been hidden inside his copy of the book We're All

313
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,800
Speaker 1: Doing Time. They also discovered a vape and Jarvis was

314
00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:50,840
Speaker 1: written up for the infractions. After a disciplinary hearing, he

315
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,200
Speaker 1: was sent to solitary where I visited him. There were

316
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:58,080
Speaker 1: no snacks, just the smeared glass wall, like when I

317
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 1: first met him more than ten years early. Here it

318
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,000
Speaker 1: was sad to have a barrier between us again, but

319
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,320
Speaker 1: Jarvis looked good. As I was thinking that, he looked

320
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,760
Speaker 1: at me and said, man, you look stressed. I told

321
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,720
Speaker 1: him I'd gotten a speeding ticket, that my father in

322
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,400
Speaker 1: law fell down and my wife was trying to help him,

323
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,040
Speaker 1: that we got an astronomical water bill because of a leak,

324
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:23,440
Speaker 1: and that I had spent the morning and bumper to

325
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,520
Speaker 1: bumper traffic. And then as I pulled off the freeway,

326
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 1: some asshole cut me off and flipped me off. I

327
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,159
Speaker 1: was still frustrated and angry. When I looked over at

328
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,359
Speaker 1: Jarvis and saw that he was smiling, it hit me. God,

329
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:43,280
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I said, I'm complaining about my life here.

330
00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 1: Jarvis said, no, no, no, that's not what I'm thinking.

331
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking that you had a hell of a morning.

332
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,880
Speaker 1: You better relax. You're gonna die before me. He told

333
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 1: me about the only time he'd been in a traffic

334
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,120
Speaker 1: jam in his life. He was driven to the hospital

335
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,679
Speaker 1: for tests after a seizure and traffic was at a standstill.

336
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 1: The three guards and the driver were piste off, but

337
00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,919
Speaker 1: Jarvis was thrilled. He gazed with fascination at people in

338
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:16,919
Speaker 1: their cars. A family was an animated conversation, a woman

339
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:21,520
Speaker 1: was singing, A few drivers were alone, one appeared angry,

340
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,600
Speaker 1: and others were stone faced. He watched them and his

341
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: heart melted. Decades before, when Jarvis had taken his first

342
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,960
Speaker 1: Buddhist vows Chat, Duke to kup Renpoche gave him a

343
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 1: cryptic instruction he should learn to see the perfection of

344
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 1: all beings. That was what he saw in the faces

345
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,119
Speaker 1: of the people in their cars, and he was moved

346
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:55,560
Speaker 1: to tears. Next week, the private investigator who was assigned

347
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 1: to Jervis's capital case thirty years ago, what she learned

348
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 1: during her investigation, and why that led to a lifelong friendship.

349
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,040
Speaker 1: Audio excerpts courtesy of Simon and Schuster. Audio from The

350
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,920
Speaker 1: Buddhist on Death Row by David Cheff, read by Michael Boatman.

351
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:16,960
Speaker 1: Copyright by David Cheff, used with permission of Simon and Schuster, Inc.

352
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 1: The Buddhist on Death Row is out in paperback this week.

353
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 1: This episode was written and produced by Donni Fazzari and myself,

354
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 1: Corny Cole. Our theme song sentenced is compliments of the

355
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:32,120
Speaker 1: band Stick Figure from their album Set in Stone. Stu

356
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,400
Speaker 1: Sternbach composed the original music. Nate Dufort did the sound design.

357
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 1: For more information on Jarvis and to find out how

358
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: you can follow his case and support his cause, please

359
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 1: visit Free Jarvis dot org. For more podcasts. For my

360
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

361
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,080
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows