Jarvis Recovers & Returns to SCC; Some Missing Mail Returned & Public Advisory Issued

After nearly three weeks spent recovering in the medical unit at California Men’s Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo, Jarvis is returning today to Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) in Jamestown, CA. He is thankful to all medical staff who were so attentive to his care. Jarvis had been hospitalized following a 25-day hunger strike which was documented by Sacramento Observer reporter Genoa Barrow here.

Despite the SCC warden’s office recently issuing response letters denying any wrongdoing in the SCC mailroom, Jarvis has since received many previously withheld mailpieces forwarded from SCC to his bedside in the last few days. This included personal correspondence postmarked from previous months, and media pieces featuring him which were stamped as “possible contraband.” The whereabouts of many books sent to him remain unknown.

Jarvis received over 100 letters while at the CMC hospital, many from strangers around the world and he is uplifted by all your prayers and moral support. “On TV, it looks like the world’s going crazy, but reading these letters, you see there are so many beautiful people out there,” he said. While Jarvis is unable to respond to each individual message, please know he continues to read everything he receives.

PUBLIC ADVISORY REGARDING INBOUND MAIL:
To help prevent and mitigate any future mail tampering and censorship from the SCC mailroom, and if you’d like to ensure Jarvis receives your correspondence, aid us in tracking your mail:
1) Contact us here and put “INBOUND MAIL” in the subject line
2) In your note, include name of sender, date sent, and a brief description of the mailpiece
(i.e. John Doe, sent 8/5/25, a greeting card with a forest scene in a green envelope). We also recommend taking a photo of your mailpiece for your own reference.
3) We will acknowledge your memo. Then if you do not hear back from us again within a month, it means Jarvis got your mail.
4) If Jarvis has not received your mail nor a rejection slip, the issue will be noted and you will be contacted.

Note the rules at SCC are much stricter than at San Quentin:
No multilayered items (no staples, musical cards, stickers, glue, lamination, plastic, white-out, paint, metal, glitter, string, etc.) Please limit your correspondence to 10 pages maximum in each envelope.

Any books addressed to Jarvis must be done so through an approved vendor (i.e. Barnes & Noble or Amazon). There is a limit on how many books he can keep in his cell at any given time, but he can donate your books to the SCC library for anyone to access. Make sure your book is not banned in California. You can search a list of banned books in prisons by state at the Marshall Project’s Banned Books database here. (Jarvis’ own books remain banned in Florida and Michigan facilities.)

We will collate a list of sent items and check in with Jarvis periodically to cross-reference their timely arrival. If your mailpiece is rejected for any valid reason, Jarvis will be officially notified, and he will always approve to pay to have it sent back to sender. We will also notify you when possible. If you believe your mailpiece has been rejected by the SCC mailroom in error, please reach out to us. We will document any issues and report them to the SCC mailroom and warden’s office on a monthly basis.

Incarcerated persons experiencing similar injustices often do not lodge grievances for fear of retaliation, or jeopardizing their release date or parole. We hope by closely tracking these incidents and spotlighting the issue, others will benefit. Thank you!