Nearly 4,000 prisoners are currently battling wildfires across California making up about 40% of the nearly 10,000 firefighters deployed across the state. Participants make $2 per day in the program and $2 an hour when they’re on a fire line.
This is a reward for many of these individuals.They're outside the walls, doing good work, learning a skill that they may not get behind bars. You can't deny how dangerous this work is. But there have been only two or three serious injuries and no deaths among inmate firefighters over the past two years.
Demetrius Barr, an inmate convicted of dealing crack who is now on the fire line told Buzz feed:
It’s a little bit — not freedom, but you can move a little bit. You feel like you're doing something, other than just sitting in jail. You feel like you've accomplished something.
This year, California has had over 5,300 wildfires which is a thousand more than the five-year average.
Read more: 4,000 California inmates are fighting wildfires
This is a reward for many of these individuals.They're outside the walls, doing good work, learning a skill that they may not get behind bars. You can't deny how dangerous this work is. But there have been only two or three serious injuries and no deaths among inmate firefighters over the past two years.
Demetrius Barr, an inmate convicted of dealing crack who is now on the fire line told Buzz feed:
It’s a little bit — not freedom, but you can move a little bit. You feel like you're doing something, other than just sitting in jail. You feel like you've accomplished something.
This year, California has had over 5,300 wildfires which is a thousand more than the five-year average.
Read more: 4,000 California inmates are fighting wildfires
