Prisoners Who Fight Wildfires in California: An Insider’s Look

[Recursion]

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/08/19/prisoners-who-fight-wildfires-in-california-an-insider-s-look

California employs about 6,000 professionals to fight its many wildfires. But because that's not nearly enough to do the job, the state also assigns 4,000 prison inmates to work in the fire camps, clearing out brush and battling 50-foot-high flames.

The inmates "are not the ones up in the helicopters" dumping fire retardant, says Bill Sessa, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "But they’re in the thick of it, cutting fire lines and helping to save large areas of California."

Because these inmate-firefighters, some of whom are juveniles, are paid only $2 a day, they save the state about $80 million every year. Their labor is so economical, in fact, that after the Supreme Court ordered California to reduce the dangerous overcrowding in its prisons, the state’s Deputy Attorney General argued in court against releasing too many inmates — because doing so "would severely impact fire camp participation, a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought."

Jacques D'Elia, 49, a former California inmate who battled fires at Valley View Conservation Camp in the Mendocino National Forest from February 2011 through November 2013, knows that he was used for very dangerous labor. D'Elia, who was incarcerated for five years for counterfeiting and drug-related charges, also says that working at the fire camps was "an honor and a privilege," an opportunity to prove himself and stay sober -- and a whole lot better than prison. Below, the experience in his own words, edited for length and clarity.

[greatlaurel]

1. Thanks for posting this. We need to pay attention to what is going on in prisons.

The use of prisoners for cheap prison labor is a very dangerous trend that has being going on a long time. Hope all the firefighters stay safe. This fire season is very dangerous.

[tularetom]

2. You do realize that this is different from using prison labor so somebody can make a profit?

This a way for prisoners to actually do something to help the community and to learn the satisfaction that comes with succeeding at a challenging task.

There's nothing exploitative about it, IMO.

[Recursion]

4. I think service is a much better rehabilitation model than sticking people in a box

$2 / day may be too low, though, particularly for potentially hazardous work. I get that you don't want a lot of money floating around prison, even minimum security, but setting them up with a deposit account that they can't access until they get out would be a win-win, since they then have a little bit of a nest egg to start a new life.

I noticed in particular that they didn't have to segregate the fire camps by race, like they do the regular prison.

[procon]

13. Its absolutely exploitive.

Compare what is essentially $80 million worth of free prison labor to $80 million of revenue that is lost and taken out of our economy. That's $80 million worth of good paying jobs that could be supporting thousands of workers who would be paying their taxes and spending their paychecks to bolster local communities.

California prisons are overflowing because of outdated sentencing rules. There's a terrible conflict of interest between the legislature's unwillingness to address overdue judicial and prison reforms and keeping people incarcerated just so the state can use them as a cheap labor pool to avoid paying for new workers. It might be semantics to label that as a profit, but there's no denying that the state enjoys a huge financial benefit.

[tularetom]

14. It's not saving the state $80 million

It's saving the taxpayers $80 million. If that work were contracted out only maybe 10% of it would come back in the form of income tax.

No way I'm defending the asinine drug policies that put a lot of these people in prison in the first place, but that's a whole different problem. They're there and it's far better for everybody that they're doing something that benefits society instead of sitting on their ass growing more resentful by the day.

[yeoman6987]

3. California doing it right

I like prisoners being employed like this. It gives them a sense of community and purpose. I could not imagine being in a cell day in and day out. I'd want to contribute and be outside.

[Recursion]

5. I think it's a decent idea, but juveniles should not be on the fire line IMO

And $2 / day is too low. Pay them minimum wage and put it in an account they can't access until they get out.

[yeoman6987]

6. Well maybe juvenile should not, but no way minimum wage

They are being punished. They don't deserve the same pay as other Americans.

[Recursion]

8. Minimum wage is a universal protection or it's meaningless

I get where you're coming from, but minimum wage laws exist to protect everyone by keeping wages in general from being driven down.

[XemaSab]

11. I respectfully disagree

My sense of a lot of juvenile delinquents is that they're bored and they know that everything they're asked to do is bullshit.

Go read Gatsby, study for the algebra test, try to learn something about the revolutionary war, and if your cousin who got out of county last week shows up with a bag of weed and a bottle of gin and invites you out for a night on the town, ignore him and get back to studying.

What do you do with delinquents that will give them another path? Give them the same books and homework and shit that they were not connecting with on the outside, or hand them a pickaxe and tell them to clear a firebreak?

After a few months of burning off energy, preparing for the future starts to look better.

[MicaelS]

7. I am all in favor of this.

Gives the inmates something constructive to do, and serves society.

[Recursion]

9. It's telling to me that they don't have to segregate the fire camps by race

like they do the prisons.

[XemaSab]

12. It's like I said in different words upthread

Bored people look for ways to entertain themselves.

Racist bullshit is just another way to kill some time.

[greatlaurel]

10. Of course, it is exploitative. The state is saving millions of dollars by not hiring people for real

"Because these inmate-firefighters, some of whom are juveniles, are paid only $2 a day, they save the state about $80 million every year. Their labor is so economical, in fact, that after the Supreme Court ordered California to reduce the dangerous overcrowding in its prisons, the state’s Deputy Attorney General argued in court against releasing too many inmates — because doing so "would severely impact fire camp participation, a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought." "

The state and the people would all be a lot better off if they spent the money to actually hire people for real jobs. Having real jobs would reduce crime. The CCC was a way to give people real jobs and keep them out of trouble.

What the inmates are doing is good for them and the public, but it would be a lot better if a lot of these people had better opportunities from early in their lives so they did not end up in prison at all.

The incarceration industry makes a lot of money for a lot of people by preying on people in poverty, lower class and people of color. The city of Ferguson was not the first place to use this scam to make a lot of money.

I am not denigrating the work of these men and I hope they all stay safe and are proud of the work they do fighting these ghastly fires.