Wildfires rage across northern California, and trained firefighters aren't the only ones putting out the blazes. "Conservation Camps" comprised of 4,000 prisoners in the California Department of Corrections (CDCR), make up nearly a quarter of the men and women putting out these large fires, according to San Francisco-based news station KQED.
Led by a trained professional, also known as the captain, inmates will hike several miles to and from the "fire zone," carrying 100 pounds of gear in 115-degree heat, excluding the increase in temperature due to the fire. They carry out the same duties as those of the other firefighters, but for a highly reduced salary.
The average firefighter makes $34 an hour for his services, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The California inmates make $2 for an entire day of work, a wage that John Roman, senior fellow at the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, calls "laughable."
It's "not an actual wage," Roman told Vox and it's "so far below poverty that it's just laughable."
In Shasta County, California, 900 prisoners are fighting the Bully Fire that has burned more than 12,600 acres, according to KQED. The prisoners fighting the fires are incarcerated for drug offenses and armed robbery. One of the captains working with the inmates doesn't fear working with the convicts carrying axes and chainsaws.
"It's just like working with any other group of guys," Josh Kitchens told KQED. "You kind of get to know their personalities and what they're capable of and you put them in positions most suited for them."
The use of prisoners has saved the state more than $100 million a year, according to the CDCR. Since they aren't legally employed, they do not see the same benefits, such as disability or worker's compensation.
Alex Friedmann, managing-editor of Prison Legal News, told American Prospect about the dependence the American workforce has on its inmates.
"If our criminal-justice system had to pay a fair wage for labor that inmates provide, it would collapse. We could not afford to run our justice system without exploiting inmates."
