PROGRAM NOTES
Got My Wings began as a reflection on the profound societal changes emerging out of the Covid-19 pandemic. In searching for a way to process all of this, my mind quite naturally turned to Jarvis Jay Masters, whose life and writings embody a virtuous force known in some circles as "compassionate action.” Having spent the last three decades on death row for a crime he did not commit, Masters has developed a devoted spiritual practice under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. His very being emanates, by way of the written and recorded word, far beyond prison walls to exude a profound sense of safety and protection. I felt when listening to or reading Jarvis that a better world really is possible. Got My Wings is a reference to Masters’ 2009 memoir That Bird Has My Wings. The sincere desire to “fly away” and be exonerated from an unjust death sentence is up against the very real and present need to meet life exactly where it is right now.
“Where do we find our freedom?” is a question that reverberates in my mind as I go through each day, thanks to Jarvis. There are three perspectives on this question, drawn from his writings and statements, that form the three separate movements of this work:
PART 1
Home Is Wherever the Heart Can Be Found:
“Welcoming the morning light, I realize, like seeing through clouds, that home is wherever the heart can be found.” I asked him what he means by “home” when his circumstances are so plainly unjust and cruel. Bird sounds bring in the dancers, who hint at a spiritual ground of safety, tinged with the anxiety of hope.
PART 2
Does anybody want to know how badly I want out of prison?
During his incarceration, Jarvis Jay Masters fell in love and married, but the relationship was dealt a brutal setback when Masters’ state appeal was denied in 2016. Reflecting on the decision to end the marriage in David Sheff’s The Buddhist On Death Row, Masters said: “I thought I was freeing her, but I was freeing myself, too. I was having to hold her up, act like I was sure I’d get out...The problem isn’t love. I love her, and I know she loves me. But what if I choose not to focus on getting out but on where my life is?”
Love is expressed here by an imaginary chorus, with a rising intensity that dissipates suddenly. A trio of dancers builds momentum once again only to be stuck in the middle, until a single dancer slowly returns to where love began.
PART 3
Just Because You’re Out Doesn’t Mean You’re Free
The guiding question for Got My Wings is one posed by Jarvis in this movement: “Where do we find our freedom?” He shares the hard-won insight that “putting hope on Front Street” may get us into trouble, and that it is better to “quit trying to chase after what you don’t know.” The conclusion here is that “just ‘cause you’re out doesn’t mean you’re free.”
The movement begins with clapping, a symbol of unity, but here there is also disorientation and confusion as well. Eventually, we hear Masters’ voice who speaks to the ensemble, and throughout the movement the ensemble becomes increasingly aware of what he is saying. Perhaps the rest of us will as well.
—Daniel BlakePART 3 TRANSCRIPTION:
“When it comes down to your freedom after so long, you really deep down inside, you don’t want this. You wanna win this. And it caught up to me that the idea of losing is one more long, long time of being in prison for zero, for nothing.”
“I don’t wanna get into what hope is s’posed to do for me right now, you know? I don’t think hope’s gonna help me. In other words, I don’t wanna put hope on Front Street.”
“The idea of not expecting anything, work with that. Quit trying to chase after what you don’t know! That’s a very comfortable space if you can control it, if it can be maintained. That’s what practice is: you get better at it, you discover more, it becomes more of a way of thinking, it creates balance in your life. I mean that’s just the way I see it in prison . . .”
“Where do we find our freedom? Someone has a very beautiful home right off the beach, great job, a trained dog, and how their lives are so miserable. And to think that you have all these opportunities to find your own freedom, to be blessed. Learn from the misery that you see other people have when they’re alcoholics, when they’re dope fiends, when they’re very abusive to their spouse, when violence is right next door and not necessarily on the streets. Just because you’re out doesn’t mean you’re free. That’s a myth, that’s a very clear myth to me. That’s something I can directly relate to.”
—Jarvis Jay MastersPANELISTS
FRI. 02/03
Moderator Charles Moore is the first fulltime alumnus to be hired by Rehabilitation Through the Arts as RTA’s Director of Operations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Mercy College, Master of Professional Studies from New York Theological Seminary.
Tara Diaz has been with Rehabilitation Through the Arts ( RTA) for the past 4 years. Tara is a Harm Reduction Peer Educator, and works part-time in construction.
Partnership. She has special training in Gestalt Pastoral Care, coaching and conflict transformation. She helps to raise awareness in faith communities about intimate partner violence and has created opportunities for people to connect through Katonah SPACE (Spirituality, Arts, and Community for Everyone).
Darrian Bennett has been with Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) for the past 10 years. A Visual Artist, Darrian now works for Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison.
SAT. 02/04
Moderator Rev. Melissa Boyer is the pastor of Katonah United Methodist Church. She has served in a variety of ministry settings including a chaplaincy at Columbia University. Community involvement and organizing are central to her calling. Academic coordinator and instructor for Rising Hope offering college-level courses in correctional facilities. She is co-chair of Methodists In New Directions (MIND) a grassroots organization advocating for equality for LGBTQIA persons. She has organized rallies and teach-ins for racial justice, working with Appalachia Service Project or the Emergency Shelter
Greg Mingo, Westchester Community Leader, RAPP: Greg was released from prison in 2021 after 40 years of incarceration for a wrongful conviction. During his incarceration, Greg became a certified paralegal and respected jailhouse lawyer who has helped numerous men obtain their freedom or sentence reduction. He has worked on programs around domestic violence, communications, fatherhood, and many others. Greg is a champion for racial and social justice, clemency, freeing our elders, and parole reform.
Roslyn D. Smith is a Program Manager for V-Day, a nonprofit organization that has vowed to end violence against women and girls. She uses her personal experience of long term incarceration as a vehicle for her work as a criminal justice reform advocate. Roslyn obtained her Bachelor’s degree while incarcerated and created curriculum and taught parenting classes for and with other mothers in prison. She has collaborated with the Osborne Association, Columbia University, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Reentry Program and other criminal justice reform groups.
Jose Saldana, Director, Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) was released from NYS prison in 2018 after 38 years of incarceration and four parole denials. During his decades in prison, he committed himself to organizing and advocating for
racial justice and meaningful changes to the criminal legal system, including transformative changes to parole and sentencing.
SUN. 02/5
Charles Moore, Moderator. (See bio at left—Friday 02/03).
Tallulah Gillespie (Ty) has been with Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) for the past 15 years. Ty works for a homeless shelter, and Human Resources Administration part time.
Jermaine Archer has been with Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) for the past 15 years. Jermaine serves on RTA’s Board of Directors and is a Program Associate with Schusterman Family Philanthropies.
FACTS
The US has thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal criminal justice systems. Together, these systems hold almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,850 local jails, 1,510 juvenile correctional facilities, 186 immigration detention facilities, and 82 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories. (Prison Policy Initiative, The Whole Pie 2022)
rate of 573 per 100,000 residents with over 1 million in state prisons, over 200,00 in federal prisons and jails and over half a million in local jails. In fact, 1 in 5 of incarcerated people in the world are incarcerated in the US. (Prison Policy Initiative, The Whole Pie 2022)
NY incarcerates more people per capita than any founding NATO country except the US. And NY incarcerates more women per capita than any founding NATO country except the US. (Prison Policy Initiative, Correctional Control 2018)
Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented in NY’s incarcerated population with Blacks representing 16% of NY’s population and 53% of its incarcerated population and Latinos representing 18% of NY’s population and 22% of its incarcerated population. Most people in prison are poor, and the poorest are women and people of color. (Prison Policy Initiative, Correctional Control 2018)
Two of three NYS women’s prisons are in Bedford. Bedford Hills Correctional Facility is NY’s only maximum security women’s prison. On Jan 1, 2023, it housed 556 women, transgender, or non-binary individuals. Albion, a medium security facility also in Bedford, housed 368 women, transgender, or non-binary individuals. (NYS DOCCS Incarcerated Profile Report – January 2023) These people are our neighbors.
The US locks up more people per capita than any other nation, at the staggering
A 1999 study at BHCF found that 94% of the women interviewed had experienced physical or sexual violence, and 82% had been physically or sexually abused as children. (International Journal of Law & Psychiatry, Prevalence and Severity of Lifetime Physical and Sexual Victimization Among Incarcerated Women, 1999)
63% of women in NY prisons are diagnosed with mental health conditions by the Office of Mental Health vs. 23% for men. 1/2 of these women are in the highest severity categories (Levels 1, 1S, 2, 2S).
(DOCCS, Under Custody Report 2021)
In 2021, The National Registry of Exonerations recorded 161 exonerations. Exonerees lost an average of 11.5 years to wrongful imprisonment for crimes they did not commit – 1,849 years to wrongful imprisonment for crimes they did not commit. Of these, 3 had been sentenced to death and 30 to Life in Prison without Parole. Official misconduct occurred in at least 102 of those exonerations.
(The National Registry of Exonerations 2021 Annual Report)
The number of incarcerated individuals who were at least 50 and over comprised 24.3% of NYS’s prison population in March 2021, compared to 12.0% in March 2008. In the January 2022 report NYS’s Aging Prison Population, NYS’s Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli urged policymakers to carefully examine opportunities to reduce the population of incarcerated individuals aged 50 and above. DOCCS research indicates that older persons released from State prison are much less likely to be returned to custody for a new commitment or parole violation than younger individuals.
According to the NYS Division of the Budget, the budget for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for calendar year 2019 was $3.54 billion, amounting to an average annual cost of $79,879 per incarcerated person. (Columbia University Justice Lab: The Enormous Cost of Parole Violations in New York, March 2021)
Estimates are that this number is likely 2 – 3 times greater for persons over 50. And if you think that is high, an analysis by the NYC Department of Correction reveals that the annual cost of incarceration in a NYC jail is $556,539 per person! Furthermore, NYC is spending more and more to incarcerate fewer and fewer and yet the rate of violence and use of force is substantially increasing.
ORGANIZATIONS THAT NEED YOUR SUPPORT
Alternatives to Violence Project is an experiential program that helps incarcerated persons to build self esteem and trust; to develop listening skills and assertive, nonviolent methods of expression; to collaborate and avoid competitive conflict; and to engage in creative conflict resolution. AVP workshops inside prison are co-led by incarcerated persons and facilitators from the outside community. Visit: avpusa.org
Correctional Association of New York is an independent organization authorized by NYS law to monitor prisons and report its findings to the legislature and broader public. This is carried out through onsite prison visits and confidential communications with incarcerated persons. Correctional Association access enables people inside prison to participate in and shape public debate. Visit: correctionalassociation.org
Hour Children supports women and their children, both during a mother’s incarceration and upon a mother’s release. Hour Children provides a range of services inside and outside prison. Some of these include: a residential nursery inside BHCF; transportation for children for visits with their mothers, while staying with local host families; parenting education and advocacy for incarcerated women; and supportive housing, job training, and childcare support on re-entry. Women who receive support from Hour Children’s programs are five times less likely to return to prison.
Visit: hourchildren.org
NY Campaign for Alternatives to
Isolated
Confinement (NYCAIC) advocates sweeping reform of NY’s use of solitary confinement and other forms of extreme isolation in state prisons and local jails. NYCAIC works through public education, community organizing and support of the Humane Alternative to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act.
Visit: www.nycaic.org
Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) uses the transformative power of the arts to help people in prison develop skills to unlock their potential and to succeed in the larger community upon release. RTA operates arts programs in NYS prisons in the Hudson Valley, serving over 200 incarcerated men and women. More than 800 prisoners have participated in RTA since it began, and hundreds have been released. Fewer than 5% of RTA participants have returned to prison within three years of release.
Visit: rta-arts.org
Release Aging Persons in Prison (RAPP) works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice through the release from prison of older and aging people and those serving long and life sentences.
Visit: rappcampaign.com
NY State Poor People’s Campaign
There are at least 140 million people in the country who are impacted by the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, Militarism and the false narrative of Christian nationalism. The Poor People’s Campaign believes that nonviolent struggle has the power to end these injustices, shift the narrative from individual shame or blame to systemic root causes and transform our society. Visit: nysppc.org
The 2023 live, in-person premiere of Got My Wings is presented by Creative Alliance Project (CAP), a Katonah-based non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating deep connections; working toward equity and social justice through creativity in all its forms. CAP encourages broad community involvement through its programming and engagement to under-resourced and marginalized residents—weaving individuals, civic organizations, local government and cultural institutions together.
Visit: creativeallianceproject.org
GOT MY WINGS
MUSIC
All music composed and performed by Daniel Blake
Daniel Blake is the producer of three albums of his original music. He has toured with Esperanza Spalding, Julian Lage, and is a recipient of the 2022 New York State Council On the Arts Fellowship. He serves on the Board of Directors of Buddhist Global Relief, for which he produces the quarterly “Helping Hands Podcast”, and also serves as cocoordinator for art and culture with the NY State Poor Peoples Campaign. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the City University of New York and is currently on faculty at the New School for Social Research, and at the Conservatory at Brooklyn College. For more information about Daniel Blake visit: danielblake.net
CHOREOGRAPHY
Tomiko Magario tomikomagario.com
DANCERS
Ensemble from Westchester Ballet Company:
Sianna Biem, Cynthia Cai, Amelia Lightfoot, Elizabeth McCormack, Olivia Mekeel, Hailey O’Halloran, Lily Rivera, Madeline Rohde, Ava Schmidt, and Amelia von Jan WestchesterBallet.org
VIDEOGRAPHY & LIGHTING DESIGN
Vision Craft Productions visioncraftproductions.com
SPECIAL THANKS
Rev. Melissa Boyer and the Katonah United Methodist Church, Westchester Ballet Company, Michael Minard, Phyllis Ross, Lucia Ballas-Traynor, Carol Parker, Bryan Copeland, Michael Sempert, Todd Hall, Abigail Lewis, Bonnie Bradley, Ted Daniel, Daniel Blake, Tomiko Magario, Amy Harte, and Mindy Yanish
Got My Wings made its virtual premiere in January 2022 at Bethany Arts Community and was supported by funding from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by ArtsWestchester A subsequent grant from Humanities New York supported a Got My Wings educational workshop for high school students in Ossining, New York, in October 2022. The February 2023 live, in-person premiere of Got My Wings was made possible by the generous support of Creative Alliance Project
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN TO EXONERATE JARVIS JAY MASTERS AND HIS PUBLICATIONS AT FREEJARVIS.ORG
