The Use of Inmate Firefighters and its Injustices

California has experienced eight of the state’s largest wildfires in the last five years. To combat these fires, California has enlisted firefighters from out-of-state and sometimes other countries to fight these deadly wildfires. Another significant and often overlooked source of manpower against wildfires is the prison population. Since World War Two, California prisons and Cal Fire have run the Conservation Camp Program . The Conservation Camp Program trains eligible prisoners to become firefighters as a source of rehabilitation. The inmates undergo one week of classroom instruction and one week of field training and exercises. After those two weeks, they are eligible to be in inmate firefighter crews. Cal Fire employs prisoners to do the “dirty work” in fighting fires; the prisoners create fire breaks , clear vegetation, and spend weeks at the front lines of wildfires. Fire breaks are critical to fighting wildfires. Unlike structural fires, fighting wildfires requires a strategy of containment. Digging fire breaks and creating breaks in vegetation slows down the rapidly expanding blazes and allows crews to start trying to put them out rather than minimize damage. Inmate firefighters have also been used to fight other risks. 

Former inmate firefighter Amika Mota detailed her experiences as an incarcerated firefighter, stating that, “I spent two and a half years fighting wildland fires, responding to car crashes, and rushing to homes to extinguish blazes. There, I was trained to use the jaws of life tool to extricate victims from mangled cars. I learned to battle brush and structure fires and ran into harm’s way while keeping my crew members safe.” While doing this dangerous work, Mota was paid 37 cents an hour. Due to the long hours at the front lines, the prisoners are disproportionately at risk of being injured fighting fires. 

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