David Sheff in Conversation With Jarvis Jay Masters

Jarvis Jay Masters’s early life was a horror story whose outline we know too well. Born in Long Beach, California, his house was filled with crack, alcohol, physical abuse, and men who paid his mother for sex. He and his siblings were split up and sent to foster care when he was five, and he progressed quickly to juvenile detention, car theft, armed robbery, and ultimately San Quentin. While in prison, he was set up for the murder of a guard — a conviction which landed him on death row, where he’s been since 1990. At the time of his murder trial, he was held in solitary confinement, torn by rage and anxiety, felled by headaches, seizures, and panic attacks. A criminal investigator repeatedly offered to teach him breathing exercises which he repeatedly refused. Until desperation moved him to ask her how to do “that meditation shit.” Along the way, Masters becomes drawn to the principles that Buddhism espouses — compassion, sacrifice, and living in the moment — and he gains the admiration of Buddhists worldwide, including many of the faith’s most renowned practitioners. In The Buddhist on Death Row (Simon & Schuster), David Sheff — author of Beautiful Boy – describes Masters’s gradual but profound transformation from a man dedicated to hurting others to one who has prevented violence on the prison yard, counseled high school kids by mail, and helped prisoners — and even guards — find meaning in their lives. Sheff will be joined in conversation by Jarvis Jay Masters, author of That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row.

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