Nearly 1,000 inmates are helping fight wildfires in Los Angeles. Ethics is complicated

Firefighters are racing to contain the forest fires that have broken out Continue to destroy Los AngelesThis puts their lives in danger as the fire turns entire neighborhoods into smoldering ruins.

Among them are some 950 inmates from the California prison system Who help fight fires for about $10 a day.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Conservation Camp Program (FIRE). Prisoners are allowed to shorten their sentences by working as firefighters – an uncommon practice in the United States. They point out that they make up about 30 percent of California’s wildfire fighting force Los Angeles Times.

“As of Friday morning, 939 firefighters at the fire camp were working around the clock to cut fire lines and remove fuel from behind structures to slow the spread of the fires,” an update on the site noted. California Corrections Instagram page.

But the program is not without controversy. Prisoners are underpaid for dangerous and difficult work, and critics accuse the state of doing so Exploitation of vulnerable populations. Inmates receive up to $10.24 per day, plus additional money for 24 hours, according to the department.

Firefighters with the Los Angeles Fire Department Earn $85,784 to $124,549 annually, according to the department’s website. Meanwhile, some also hire private firefighters Wealthy real estate owners Ready to bomb as Up to $2000 per hour.

At least 24 people died in the fires that broke out on January 7. Officials said at least 12,300 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Dangerous high winds are expected to resume Monday in Los Angeles, potentially hampering efforts to extinguish stubborn wildfires that have destroyed entire neighborhoods.

“To all those people who don’t think our formerly incarcerated brothers and sisters should not be able to vote or live in your neighborhoods, just remember who was on your hill to save your house,” one Instagram user captioned one comment. The update was published by California Corrections.

“LA is being saved by the people who locked them up,” another person added. Another post for California Corrections.

Complex ethics

according to Smithsonian MagazineFour prisoner firefighters have died in the line of duty in recent years. One person was hit by a rock, another was killed by a falling tree, another was killed by a chainsaw, and one inmate died of heart failure during a training flight.

In 2018, Time magazine It reported that prisoners fighting wildfires are more likely to be injured than professional firefighters — more than four times as likely to suffer “object-related injuries,” and eight times more likely to be injured by smoke inhalation.

Some have Question morality Of choosing to volunteer for the program, since the benefits include reduced punishment and Expungement of criminal record.

“I understand the argument that could be made that the only reason people volunteer to go to a camp fire to experience those humane conditions is because the conditions behind the walls are inhumane, and that’s probably true, and I understand that argument, and in that sense it’s offensive.” TikToker Matthew HahnA former inmate who worked on a fire crew said in a video last week.

But he added that it was still one of the highest-paying jobs in the prison system, and said the camps “were the best place to spend time anywhere in the entire prison system.”

“We had more freedom when we were at Camp Fire, and we were outside the prison walls,” Hahn said. “We got out into the communities and got out into nature during the day.”

Other inmates involved in the program described it as a positive experience. In an article for non-profit organizations marshall project, Prisoner David Desmond described it as “the best job I’ve ever had”.

“No one treated us like prisoners; we were firefighters,” Desmond wrote in a 2023 article.

Royal Ramey, a former prisoner and co-founder of the Forest and Fire Employment Program, told CBC News that the fire camp program has other perks, including creating job opportunities for inmates upon their release.

“You get better food, you get to visit in a public setting, you live in university housing, you’re out in the community, you’re doing projects of some kind, you’re eligible for leave,” Ramey said.

“But for me, it introduced me to a career that I love now.”

How the program works

California’s Conservation Camp (Fire) program has been in existence since World War II, according to Smithsonian MagazineAlthough its roots in prison work go back nearly a century.

CDCR, in cooperation with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department, operates about 35 so-called fire camps across the state. Two of the camps are designated for women prisoners. All of them are considered minimum security facilities. Note the section’s location.

Inmate volunteers must meet certain requirements to protect public safety. They must be classified as minimum security, and anyone convicted of rape, sex crimes, arson or who has an escape record is ineligible.

Most incarcerated fire crew members get two days off of their sentence for every day they serve on the crew.

Similar programs exist in other states. In Washington, Crew members learn how to perform prescribed burns, handle hazardous equipment and ensure contained fires stay that way.

and British Columbia Fire Suppression Program Specially trained inmates are allowed to set up and clear fire base camps, maintain supply inventories, maintain camp equipment and facilities, and test and repair equipment.

“We move to prison work.”

However, as Marshall Project Saturday reported, ethics are “complicated.”

He speaks on the Independent News programme Democracy Now Los Angeles-based activist Sonali Kolhatkar said Monday that the fire camp program is indicative of the ways in which “our spending priorities are so skewed.”

“Yes, it is true that our fire departments are severely understaffed,” she said. “So instead of training more non-incarcerated people, or, for that matter frankly, allowing incarcerated people to simply not be incarcerated…we shift to working in prisons.” .

“Incarcerated firefighters are trying to keep us safe, but they themselves are part of the architecture of violence, and they are victims of the architecture of violence as well.”

But Joshua Daniel is eloquent, In 2016 A post on the International Wildland Fire Association’s website said his time as an incarcerated firefighter in Oregon allowed him to learn valuable skills and feel like he was giving back to the community.

“When I feel the anger and shock in the faces of contract crews who hear how little we get paid for the work we do, I remember I could be sitting in a prison cell,” he wrote.