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Jarvis Jay Masters

Biography

Jarvis Jay Masters

An inmate at San Quentin since the age of 19, Jarvis Jay Masters is the author of FINDING FREEDOM, as well as many articles. In 1992, Masters won a PEN Award for his poem "Recipe for Prison Pruno."

In 1990, Masters was moved to death row after being convicted of conspiracy in the murder of a prison guard. In April 2008, the California Supreme Court ordered an evidentiary hearing based on the lack of substantial evidence for Masters's conviction. Many people believe in Masters' innocence and are actively working within the legal system to free him.

Jarvis Jay Masters

Books by Jarvis Jay Masters

That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row
by Jarvis Jay Masters - Memoir, Nonfiction

In 1990, while serving a sentence in San Quentin for armed robbery, Jarvis Jay Masters was implicated as an accessory in the murder of a prison guard. A 23-year-old Black man, Jarvis was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. While in the maximum security section of Death Row, using the only instrument available to him --- a ball-point pen filler --- Masters' astounding memoir is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and the talent of a fine writer. Offering us scenes from his life that are at times poignant, revelatory, frightening, soul-stirring, painful, funny and uplifting, THAT BIRD HAS MY WINGS tells the story of the author’s childhood with parents addicted to heroin, an abusive foster family, a life of crime and imprisonment, and the eventual embracing of Buddhism.