“That Bird Has My Wings” is a new book by Jarvis Jay Masters, an inmate on San Quentin​’s death row in California. In this mem­oir, Masters tells his sto­ry from an ear­ly life with his heron-addict­ed moth­er to an abu­sive fos­ter home. He describes his escape to the illu­so­ry free­dom of the streets and through lone­ly nights spent in bus sta­tions and juve­nile homes, and final­ly to life inside the walls of San Quentin Prison. Using the nub and filler from a ball­point pen (the only writ­ing instru­ment allowed him in soli­tary con­fine­ment), Masters chron­i­cles the sto­ry of a bright boy who turned to a life of crime, and of a pen­i­tent man who embraces Buddhism to find hope. Masters has writ­ten this sto­ry as a cau­tion­ary tale for any­one who might be tempt­ed to fol­low in his foot­steps, and as a plea for under­stand­ing about the for­got­ten mem­bers of soci­ety. (From publisher’s description).

(J. Masters, ​“That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row,” Harper Collins 2009). See Books and Death Row.

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