About a few weeks ago, I came across an informative Twitter post. This Twitter post was informing the general public on incarcerated firefighters in California and how these same firefighters are paid little to nothing AND are not allowed to acquire firefighter jobs upon release. My first thought was, “how can this make any sense? And why are we still promoting slavery of people in the name of incarceration?”. So, I’m going to start by being completely honest… I’m a HUGE advocate for prison reform. This is for two reasons: although incarcerated people are deemed criminals, they still deserve basic humans right and the way in which incarceration completely ruins people’s lives, it’s not morally right… at all and no matter what.
Honestly, incarcerated people deserve their basic rights. To me, it doesn’t really matter who a person is or what they have done, everyone deserves basic decency, such as being paid/compensated a sufficient enough amount to sustain themselves. In one article, (link listed below) by a non-profit news source “High Country News”, author Maanvi Singh writes, “in exchange for extremely dangerous work, prisoners earn time off their sentences and are paid between $2 and $5 a day, plus $1 per hour when they are on a fire. Because incarcerated firefighters are paid so little, the program saves the state of California $90 million to $100 million a year”. What I took away from this data is that my argument was further supported. Let’s put this into context. The average minimum wage for firefighters in California is $21/hour, but prisoner firefighters can only receive, at most, $5 a day… Now, I know incarcerated people are housed, fed and not having to worry about bills, but how in the world is this fair? These prisoners literally risk their lives for $5 a day? Then, on top of that, they save the state of California $90 to $100 BILLION dollars a year, through their labor, it’s not morally right, any way you look at it. I don’t even want to go down a rabbit hole with the taking off time from their sentences. I’ll just leave it at that’s not right.
Second, incarcerated firefighters aren’t allowed to apply or acquire firefighter jobs once they have completed their sentences. Of all things, I find this the most absurd. I say this because these incarcerated firefighters literally took on the role of non-incarcerated firefighters. Also, with how prison completely ruins a person’s record; I think the least society can do is allow them to pursue a career after they have served their time. I feel incarceration completely disables people from allowing them to move on and better their lives. Instead, prison only sets its victims up to fail again. #PRISONREFORM!
Relevant links: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/20/californias-volunteer-inmate-firefighters-denied-jobs-after-release-column/987677002/
So, where is current legislation on this topic?:
Unruly Bodies 
Hi,
I love this post and I completely agree that prison reform is a must. I think this ties into an interesting discussion on the concept of being “criminally disabled”. Many times criminals are considered to be subhuman, or lesser because of whatever has been done or whatever has happened in their past. This is why we justify sending them into dangerous situations with the most minuscule amount of pay, it is almost seen as a pat on the backs “we are giving them work they should be grateful”, “sure they are not making money but they are learning life skills”. Like you said, these skills will only be allowed to translate so far into society, and what is the expectation of someone who knows how to fight fires but isn’t allowed to? Someone who comes out of jail with 20 bucks to their name and a skill they are not allowed to use? Criminally disabled isn’t someone who has done it to themselves but it is a system we have set in place to disable those who we deem as not equal. Now I can talk all day about how disability inherently is a concept of inequality and we should not equate equality to ability. But the point of this comment is to argue that within the confines of our societal construction of disability, being criminally disabled is tied to the social model of disability. If people could come out of jail with the skills and economic resources they need to live in our society then would we consider them disabled because of their record? No. And this change could change the entirety of how we view criminals and prisons as a whole.
God, I remember when I first heard a podcast covering this topic a couple years ago and being beyond enraged that the people were getting the literal textbook fire academy training on fighting fires and yet when they were released they couldn’t continue and start that career. It’s asinine especially when there’s mountains of evidence showing that recidivism rates plummet when previously incarcerated people have access to resources post-prison such as a stable job. They (the state) just want free labor and it’s easier (read: less expensive) to train incarcerated people, barely pay them, and potentially get re-incarcerated than allow them to have access to life-changing resources.
Hi!
I remember seeing this article and also being very upset about it! It is extremely hard for those incarcerated to get a job once they leave prison, which not only keeps them impoverished, but makes them more likely to reenter prison. I think for doing such an honorable job (fighting INSANE fires) they should be welcomed into a fire department with open arms. If you are willing to risk your life to help others, you should not be banned from doing the job. All that changed is their status from prisoner to non-prisoner. Not their work ethic or ability. This is especially frustrating when I see that people are flying from across the country or from a different country to help fight the fires. California and surrounding states had a whole group of people that could help them fight, but they denied them that right. Prisoners should be treated as human beings, especially those incarcerated for non-violent crimes.
I definitely agree. I’m really passionate about prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition, the violence of the “justice” system is abhorrent – no equitable society can equate justice with revenge the way we do. Your post reminded me of the ballot question I saw for Utah this election to amend the state constitution to remove language that still allows slavery and servitude as punishment for crime. The most insulting part of that, is the amendment clarifies “the ban does not affect the otherwise lawful administration of the criminal justice system”. It’s totally contradictory to me, both aspects should be abolished.
I have trouble with the idea of reform in a system that shouldn’t exist and no one deserves to this violence no matter if they’ve been violent before or nonviolent – it should be the same. I know too much about how folks who are charged with violent crimes are treated and it only further radicalizes me into wanting to take this entire system down. I feel revenge is not restorative or transformative, it doesn’t heal people or change society for the better, it doesn’t change the systems that create violence, it only inflicts more pain.
I’m down to throw the whole system in the trash together. Thanks for highlighting this!