WEBVTT - Jarvis and the Death Penalty 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.840 Dear Governor is a production of I Heeart Media and 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:10.960 three Months Media Jarvis Masters. It is the judgment and 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:15.960 sentence of this Court that the charged information was true. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.000 There are innocent people on death row. It is the 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:24.320 order of this court that you suffered death innocent people. 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.480 Change his minds. It has in every state. You will 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:29.760 probably see that change. The death penalty is because they 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.360 found too many innocent people of death row said penalty 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.560 to be inflicted within the walls of sam Quentin. They 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.320 said that I sharpened the weapon and sent it down 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.680 to the guy who then made it into a toll 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.479 and spirit to guard, at which point you shall be 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.520 put to death. The reason why I end up in 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.840 death row is because I didn't try to defend myself. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.920 You are remanded to the custody of the Warden of 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.680 sam Quentin. Beyond the racial part. Who gets death and 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.720 who doesn't is, as was called by the Supreme Court 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.240 back in the Samities, a strike of lightning. I thought 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.160 that these guys are in trouble, not me. There was 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.119 so much evidence that was kept from us that if 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.600 he were tried now you know, they'd get an acquipbal. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.600 I wish they would have found that weapon, because that 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:28.280 weapon would have been my way out of here. I 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.720 really believe that they found that weapon, I would have 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:32.880 not been charged from her. He should not be on 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.679 death row. He shouldn't be in prison actually for this crime. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.880 It's really a tragedy. It's really unfair. No one knows 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.720 how long the day is. I've fucking with someone that 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.520 doesn't know what a day feels like. Innocent on death row. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.400 They have no idea. May God have mercy on your soul. 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.600 God have mercy on your soul. Imagine, through a series 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.480 of random coincidences and professional ties, you're introduced to a 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.560 renowned author who's as respected as he is beloved. His 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:06.200 award winning essays have garnered international acclaim as a speak 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.120 to the heart of the human condition, love and devotion. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.760 His books are recommended reading in many high schools across 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.160 the country, the students of which consider him to be 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.400 their mentor. This is a man of deep faith and 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.400 conviction who, decades ago, took the Buddhist vow to do 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.440 no harm one step further, he vowed to do everything 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.840 in his power to alleviate the suffering of others. All 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.040 of this despite the fact that he was a victim 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:35.079 of deeply flawed foster care system growing up in Long Beach, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.960 California ghettos in the sixties and seventies. The abuse he 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.040 endured at the hands of multiple foster parents is all 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.880 but unspeakable. Born to a heroin addicted mother and a 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.400 brutally violent father, It's difficult to fathom how any human 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.799 would have the strength to overcome the kind of generational 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.720 abuse that destroys lives, families, and entire communities. Others have 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.400 been broken by a fraction of the horrors perpetrated on 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.440 this man, but he has somehow managed to find joy, hope, 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.200 and even optimism through it all. Now imagine this paragon 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.960 of compassion who has been lauded by luminaries from Archbishop 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.800 Desmond Tutu to Buddhist teacher Pema children and for whom 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.239 theater troops have written stage plays, and realized that he 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.280 has been languishing on San Quentin's death row for over 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.800 thirty years. His name is Jarvis J. Masters and it 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.079 was by way of professional happenstance that our paths crossed. 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.000 My name is Cornicole. I'm a television and radio producer 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.040 by lottery of birth. I grew up not twenty miles 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.080 from Jarvis, in a tony all white Republican enclave that 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.520 is North Tuston. My parents picked this town because the 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.040 neighborhood was safe in the public schools were some of 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.000 the best in the state. Prior to meeting Jarvis, I 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.800 hadn't had much occasion to think about the death penalty. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.040 Why would I. I never knew anyone who was in prison, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.520 much less a condemned prisoner. I, like my father and 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.160 his father before him, believe the death penalty was fair, effective, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.680 cost efficient way to rid society of the dredges of humanity, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.960 and never examined this conviction. I never had reason to. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.960 In getting to know Jarvis, reading his extensive body of work, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.800 talking for endless hours on the phone, I have been 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.240 forced to look within and question what I held to 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.520 be true for so long. On this podcast, myself, along 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.600 with the community of his supporters, want to introduce you 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.200 and the Governor of California to the man who is 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.159 Jarvis Masters. For one, we believe you will be a 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.200 better person for knowing him, And for two, as we 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.360 close in on the presidential elections, hopefully his story can 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.000 be an impetus for some to explore their own surface 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.560 level convictions and did deeper to understand why they believe 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.320 what they believe and in turn make their vote all 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.400 that much more vital. While everyone seems to agree that 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.479 the criminal justice system is in dire need of reform, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:05:00.359 capital punishment is the ultimate wedge issue, controversial and polar rising. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.400 It's about politics, it's about morality, and it splits our 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.920 electorate almost down the middle. Despite the fact that US 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.040 opposition to the death penalty is at its highest in decades, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.560 President Trump doubled down on his pro death penalty advocacy 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.960 by expanding the practice. A g Bill Bar now announcing 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.960 the federal government will resume capital punishment first time since 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.280 two thousand three, bar directing prison officials to schedule the 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.240 executions of five death row inmates. There will be a 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.320 strict timetable for judicial proceedings that will allow the imposition 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.680 of the death sentence without undue to lay. In response 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.279 to this edict, a group of a hundred and seventy 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.000 five family members of people murdered wrote a letter to 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.440 a g Bar imploring him to change his mind. They 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.240 wrote that the death penalty exacerbates the trauma of losing 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.919 a loved one and creates yet another grieving family. It 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.920 also wastes many millions of dollars that could be better 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.520 invested in programs that actually reduce crime and violence and 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.360 that address the needs of families like ours. Also in 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.960 response to Bar's pronouncement, Joe Biden, a longtime supporter of 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.120 the death penalty, tweeted, because we can't ensure that we 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.599 get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.080 death penalty. President Trump's d o J has not only 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.040 reinstated the death penalty, but if he has his way, 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.360 drug dealers will be put to death right alongside murderers. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.120 And China they have a very, very tough penalty for drugs. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.479 It's called the death penalty. And I said to President Sheets, 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.160 so you have one point four billion people and you 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:34.919 don't have a drug problem. I said, what do you 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:40.120 attribute that to death penalty? Quick trial? Following this zealous 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:45.720 defensive capital punishment, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayana Pressley unveiled House Resolution 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.480 four zero five to, also known as the People's Justice Guarantee. 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.320 It would quote prohibit the imposition of the death penalty 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.680 for any violation of federal law and for other purposes. 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.480 Of the approximately thirty cosponts or Michigan Representative Justin Amash 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.640 is the only non Democrat who signed on. From an 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.120 ABC News interview, sister Helen pru John, author of dead 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.200 Man Walking In an outspoken opponent of the death penalty. 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:17.600 This is the first presidential campaign where you have well most, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.520 if not all, of the Democratic candidates calling for an 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.760 end to the death penalty. We've never had as a 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:26.760 venture candidate before, even Obama. There's a huge shift happening 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.320 in the country about the death penalty. It was only 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.360 his reason It's sixteen that the Democrats formally opposed the 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:36.040 death penalty in its party platform. But if politics isn't 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.280 the arbiter of what's important at this moment in time, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.320 look no further than Hollywood and popular culture. Kim Kardashian 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.640 has become an outspoken advocate for the condemned after realizing 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.240 just how broken the system is, and earlier this year, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.360 the film Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.560 Fox was released. It follows the true story of attorney 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.600 Brian Stevenson, who made it his life's mission to fight 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:02.880 for the wrongfully condemned. You only know what you enter 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.640 down here in Alabama from the moment you're ball. Earlier 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.200 in the year, movie director Edwards Wick released Trial by Fire, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.760 starring Laura Dern. It tells the true story of Cameron 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.560 Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas for allegedly killing 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.720 his three daughters after scientific evidence and expert testimony that 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.920 bolstered his claims of innocence were suppressed. You are guilty 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.400 of capital murder by order of the State of Texas. 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.439 You are sentenced to death. Oprah Winfrey's recent book club 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.520 pick was Anthony ray Hinton's memoir The Sun Does Shine. 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.160 How I found life and freedom on death Row after 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:50.840 a case of mistaken identity sent him there. On March 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.960 thirteenth of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom held a press 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.960 conference in which he announced that death penalty executions in 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.360 California would be halted under his administration and during his 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.040 time in office. It was a National Academy of Science 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.320 report that came out that estimates one out of every 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.600 twenty five people on death row is innocent. If that's 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:12.200 the case, that means if we move forward, executing seven 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.920 thirty seven people in California, we will have executed roughly 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:20.520 thirty people that are innocent in that same pressure. Governor 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.079 Newsom made a call to our better angels because he said, 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.840 when you know better, you do better. There are innocent 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.680 people on death row. I cannot sign off on executing 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:37.480 hundreds and hundreds of human beings knowing knowing that among 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:43.520 them will be innocent human beings. My name is Jarvis Masters. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.400 I have been an inmate at Quentin Institute for a 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:54.680 most thirty years. Forty years. Cool ships has a long time. 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.880 Sometimes you just want to let that self go right, 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.440 and you want to keep the low. You know, you 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.559 want to like you know, you don't want you know 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.240 what it is, you just say something different all the day. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.240 I have been an inmate at San Quentin Prison for 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.840 almost fourteen years. I am certainly guilty of the crimes 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.160 that brought me here, and I owe the mistakes I made, 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:22.440 and I've paid my dues, but I'm not guilty of 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.520 the crime that put me here on death row for 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.920 the last thirty years. I hope you take time to 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.920 listen to my story, and I hope you have the 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:37.280 heart to recognize the unjust reality of capital punishment, so 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.240 many guilty mans have to be put to death to 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:48.320 justify the execution of one innocent man. Dear Governor Newsom, 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:52.240 do you, Mr Governor Newsom? This is an open letter 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:57.480 to Governor Gavin Newsom. Dear Governor Newsom, myself, along with 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.360 a group of your constituents, wants to introduce you to 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.520 an exceptional human being, one of the seven hundred and 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:08.640 thirty seven souls currently on California's death rows lost my 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.240 dear mind. I know, I think I'm most provider something 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.000 or someone can survive so long, long long I think 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:21.480 that I am. I'm lucky. Our group spans the political spectrum. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.959 Some are pro death penalty, while others are outspoken advocates 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.320 for the abolition of the death penalty the California State 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:33.280 programce san Quentin, California, Jo, You're lucky. You don't like 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.520 to say that, because I'm in a place where you know, 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.880 how How the hell can you be lucky on death 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.880 row liminar and nine right four so for forty years? 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.600 How how do you make sense out of that? You know, 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.080 this is the story of one man, but this is 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:52.000 not one man's story. I am so lucky that I 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.480 have my spanity. I have people to motivate me, to 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.600 keep me going. That's that's that's how no that you know, 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.719 I'm in a good place. I mean inside internally, I'm 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.920 in a really really good place. A man who found 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.400 grace in an unjust system, a system so broken that 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.240 justice is not color blind nor free from social bias. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.200 So many things in my life I'm thankful for, you know, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120 and I think what happens to me accorded that when 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.120 you learn how to start thinking thanking people for for 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.360 the person you make yourself to be are, You're just 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.240 you're just full of you, humble yourself in front of 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.280 people who you know that's doing things for you in 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:38.080 ways where you can't help or feel thankful, you know, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.920 because you come from a place where these things never happened, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.920 and to see them happening, it's like, you know, it's 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.800 one of those whiles, you know. So yeah, I think 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.359 about a lot of people who helped me along the way. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.360 Soon after the pandemic brought our world to a screeching halt, 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.200 Jarvis reached out to me to share how dramatically things 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.400 have changed for him and his buddies on the East Block. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.760 San Quentin thus far has remained relative of the infection 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.040 free when you compare it to other prisons from across 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.679 the country, because social distancing in jails and prisons is 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:11.600 all but impossible and sanitizers forbidden, infection rates are exponentially 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.000 higher than that of the general public. The New York 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.480 Times aptly labeled jails is the petree dishes for the virus. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.120 What's it like in there? Like, on the outside, it's 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.840 been crazy out here. It feels completely dystopian, all sorts 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.880 of shutdowns and nobody's going to work and everybody's staying 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.200 at home in the streets are empty. So what does 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.920 it feel like on the inside? From my fancis point, 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.240 is like all being done up there. I mean, it's 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.880 a real SII Fi movie. If you look out there, 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.360 you see people and their reactions to this disease. It 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.400 is really really scary, you know, and we all think 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.520 about our families and for instance, loved ones, and just 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:58.640 like everyone else would. What is the biggest story is 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.160 that at any time so it's sick, instead of putting 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.840 them in the hospital, they put them in solitary confinement 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.599 the whole And for someone to say I got a 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.800 fever and I'm not filling. Will say they're gonna put 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.560 you there. I guess not to me. People canna raise 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.080 their head when they are honest sick, they're not going 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.120 to do it. So there is no real serious motive 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.760 to raise your hand when you're really, really sick. Are 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.600 you gonna do it? You know, say, okay, I'm sick. 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.920 Listen me to the whole where I could barely breathe 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.040 and no one ever see me. No, I'm not going 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.000 to be putting isolation from fine where I cannot use 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.520 the phone. Well, I can't inform my family how I'm 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.800 doing or find out what they're up to. That's a bad, 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.320 bad plan that quldn't half of this problem. Is there 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.080 any testing that's being done to them and they just 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.440 get sent down to the hole? No, there's no chest 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.920 kits here. You've got a temperature in that temperatures stayed 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:56.840 at the high level for a couple of days, and 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.240 they don't you and hope there's guy's coughing all around 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.280 because it's the flu season. You can't really determine put 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.200 that cost actually means. I know that yesterday a guy 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.960 went to the whole because he had a high fever. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.840 So that's how that goes. But other than that, everyone's 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.040 watching TV, and everyone's watching the news, and everyone's listening 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.320 to the radio, and everyone doesn't understand what Trump does. 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.320 But this is the West Coast, this is California. But 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.120 I think a lot of people don't see him as 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.720 being in control of this. They see local government's being 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.080 more in control of it. For me, I follow the money. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.880 The money would kill me. How seriously, everything he is 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.280 out there, stop mons crash. There's a serious problem. When 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.280 they lose in eight nine, ten trillion dollars. A think 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:48.160 that's a serious problem. Anything that generates money, if it's 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:52.720 shut down, it tells me it is a serious problem. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.800 But one gives me more anything is when people say 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.200 to me Jovers, you know, I understand what it feels 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.920 like to be in prison now. And I say really, 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.680 I mean, all right, I get it. I get that. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.280 I get that, I get that. Okay, I don't even 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.800 want to burst the bubble, you know, I just let 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.600 them feel that. You know, when I'm on the phone, 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.720 a lot of people are it's very sympathetic to me 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.360 being locked up, based on there are three weeks out 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:26.640 of work, and at home with their spouse that much 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.280 to be a lot. But if they're fineess in that 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:36.600 place of confinement. Really it is true that they feel 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.960 locked up. They can't go outside for their walks, and 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.320 when they can't do the things they normally would do, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.280 to suddenly test that off is a real problem. I 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.480 can sort of get it in one way, you know, 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.960 I can get it, because you cut off from the 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.560 routine of life and you will feel crummy. You have 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.920 to even if you can pay for not working. You 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.840 to still see the National Guards homework down the street 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:09.680 passing me where you're going? That is really unusual. Guard 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.320 tells me all the time, where is you going? They 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.639 do not have a quicker response thank you? Do? You, 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:17.840 on the other hand, have a very hard time for 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.520 understanding it, you know, and you don't know where it's 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:26.040 coming from. Brif property, jobs, employment, the way the world 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.679 is is suddenly you can turn it upside down, and 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.560 I understand that up next. It's difficult enough for a 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.639 healthy adult mind to bear witness to this tragedy, but 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.440 imagine how much more terrifying it is for a death 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:49.240 row inmate who suffers from mental illness or schizophrenia. Another 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.560 thing I want to talk about was this is something 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.840 I'm starting to observe just because I look for things 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.320 to look at psychiatry. There's a lot of people for 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.240 death Roy. It isn't especially Thankwich who's taking psychmanty For 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:08.520 one reason, that is whether paranoia rather's anxiety. To have 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.600 this thing going on right here, if you're creating a 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:15.879 whole new different kind of fear, that fears be concentrated 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:20.239 five six gay times, it would be meeting you. So 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.199 you can take a guy who's chest anxiety problems, are 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.320 schizophrenic or whatever it is. You can really see the 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.080 difference at him. You really can't. I mean, this is 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.200 very clear, and it can only get worse. Because I'd 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.159 one guy, She's a good friend of mine. He says, 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.280 I don't think I could take three more weeks? Is 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:44.720 I cannot take three more weeks of this? And I'm 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.720 thinking one of the for the last fifteen years is 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.359 at the boiling point. Why did you tell him? I 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.359 just told him in either way, you don't know what 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.000 three weeks might feel like. You may become a chess player. 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.600 You don't know what some of you doing it three weeks. 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.359 I told him. Also but if you can't take it 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.240 to the point where I think you can't take it, 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.440 then you'll be going by your damn self, because I'm 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.160 not going with you. Man. He thought that was really 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.879 really funny and just trying it at him. Though. What 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.600 got me corny was this when he said, I don't 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.680 think I can take three more weeks of this had 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:26.040 told me a whole lot. It's almost like he's repeating 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.800 what he's watching. Yes, he takes it more serious than 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.639 the people he's looking at. Yeah, like he's feeling the 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:40.240 anxiety of the world through an exponential amount. Right. But 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.040 the problem is he's in the cell of death road 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.600 and there's already many readers to steel hopeless you can 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.320 cast some money and trying to figure out how can 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:55.560 you whole school your kids or whatever? His freed of doom. 0:19:55.720 --> 0:20:09.120 They're just doomed, persisted by my arch is it broken? Sick? 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:15.159 I'm leaving silence, hartnesss plex me. I don't know me. 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:22.000 Can you help me, Dear Governor Newsome. My name is Samara. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.760 I'm founder and artistic director of Truth Worker Theater Company, 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.199 where a social justice based hip hop theater company for 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:34.679 young people who are directly impacted by mass incarceration with 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:38.359 loved ones who are currently or formally incarcerated, and we 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:48.720 create original cutting edge theater can never tell me, incorporating 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:53.560 music and movement and dance and lyricism and testimony, creating 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:58.359 visions for change around the prison system and all of 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:08.960 its ricocheting impacts on our communities. Jervis, but there you are, Javis, 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:13.800 probably looking all over. I first met Jarvis over ten 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.640 years ago after I had survived a violent crime at 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.439 the hands of a young man who was now serving 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.680 multiple lifetimes in prison. This was not an easy thing 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:30.399 for me. Despite my survival and despite experiencing violence, I 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:35.919 still understand that hurt people hurt people, and prison is 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:40.280 not a solution to create healed communities that are accountable 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:45.359 to one another. Jarvis was family and dear friend and 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:49.600 mentor to one of my closest friends, and she put 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.439 us in contact with one another, knowing that I was 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:58.439 committed to really exploring healing and justice, and also that 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:01.520 I work in New York's at a public schools and 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:07.679 particularly in transfer schools that are specifically geared towards servicing 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:12.680 young people who are overaged and undercredited, which often means 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:18.040 gang affiliated, formally incarcerated, pregnant and parenting, or impacted by 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:22.560 foster care. Jarvis spending his boyhood in and out of 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.399 foster homes and being awarded the state from such a 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:32.440 young age, incarcerated while still a juvenile and unjustly sentenced 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:37.440 to death, then serving twenty three consecutive years in solidary confinement, 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:41.520 was committed to mentorship on his own path to liberation. 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:45.840 Despite confinement, Jarvis had made clear to my friend that 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.920 he wanted to be directly connected to other young people 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:56.640 who were navigating systems that perpetuated oppression, marginalization, and would 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:02.159 disproportionately targeting young black and brown people. God am I 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:06.040 forgiven for my sins. I'm gonna talk behind these walls 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.800 are night. I'm gonna be killed with something that I 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:18.080 didn't do. God have I forgiving foods usigerating? Do you 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:20.680 know how many people are on the outside faring for you? Love? 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.800 You may not be able to climb those walls. We're 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:37.199 gonna make it a disappear. Almost thirty years into his 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:41.520 death sentence, and Jarvis's habeas corpus oral arguments are finally 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:44.360 on the docket next week, as he anxiously awaits those 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:47.960 arguments before the California Supreme Court. Jarvis will share his 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.840 perspective on this untenable waiting game, and I'll report back 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.159 from the courthouse. This episode was written and produced by 0:23:55.200 --> 0:24:00.840 Donna Fazzari and myself. Corny Cole Stu Sternbuck composed original music. 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:05.280 Nate Dufort did the sound design. Special thanks to Samara 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:07.480 Gayev and the cast and the crew at the Truth 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.840 Worker Theater Company, who provided us with clips and music 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.240 from their original hip hop musical Boxed In and Blacked 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.760 Out in America. Visit free Jarvis dot org to find 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:20.280 out more about Jarvis's case and to sign your name 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:22.919 to our dear Governor Newsom petition. And if you have 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.119 questions for Jarvis, please leave a message on our hotline 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:30.520 at two zero one nine zero three thirty five seventy five. 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:34.840 That's to zero one nine zero three thirty five seventy five. 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:38.560 For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:42.679 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:43.679 your favorite shows.