Plum gig or slave labor? California inmates fight wildfires for $1 an hour

More than 3,000 inmate volunteer firefighters are performing the back-straining labor, according to Cal Fire. They’re clearing brush and digging lines for the Ferguson, Carr and Mendocino Complex fires, which have torched a combined 577,000 acres of California land in another historic season. Despite their training and experience fighting some of the nation’s most severe wildfires, these incarcerated firefighters face extremely narrow pathways to industry work after release. The problem lies with emergency medical technician licenses, said Katherine Katcher, founder and executive director of the re-entry advocacy group Root & Rebound in Oakland.
MORE POSTS
AB 1148: Stable Parents, Stable Children Act Signed Into Law
‘I still couldn’t find a place to lay my head’:...
Newsom vowed to pardon LGBTQ Californians. Only one living person...

Sign Up
Join our mailing list.