More than 1,000 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) incarcerated firefighters have been working around the clock for three weeks to extinguish the flames engulfing Los Angeles (LA) County. Some of these inmates are earning less than $30 a day for their efforts. But after risking their lives, California’s inmates deserve better and should be paid on par with other firefighters.
Without these essential workers, there would be no chance of containing the blazes burning LA to the ground. This is not a new practice. California began training inmates to help fight wildfires during World War II while many firefighters and men in general were deployed overseas. Today, CDCR operates 35 fire camps across the state of California where inmates can become certified in firefighting.
Many of these inmates joined these fire camps for the chance to get time off their sentences, get time outside the prison walls and gain hands-on training that could help them in their employment post-incarceration.
When deployed, volunteer firefighter inmates earn embarrassingly low wages, averaging between $5.80 to $10.24 per day and earn an additional $1 per hour of work during active fires. This means the lowest-paid firefighter would earn $29.80 for a 24-hour shift of fighting fires.
One inmate fighting these fires, Joseph McKinney, shared his motivations for volunteering: “When you realize you’re doing something … for the greater good, you’re willing to put that sacrifice up … and not only that, I have a debt to pay to society and this is how I’m choosing to pay it back.”
According to CDCR, these firefighter crews are made up of incarcerated volunteers with up
to eight years on their sentence and who have been deemed physically and mentally fit by the CDCR. When they are not fighting fires, these inmates respond to a plethora of other California natural disasters and work in community service surrounding the area to their camp.
Attempting to remedy the gross injustices perpetrated on these firefighters, California Assemblymember Isaac Bryan introduced a bill that would pay inmates the same as the lowest-paid non-incarcerated firefighters on the frontlines. Assemblymember Bryan insisted, “We always talk about how it’s an injustice and we’ve never addressed it … I think it’s appropriate for us to have a conversation about what equity looks like even in the midst of a natural disaster.”
Assembly Bill (A.B.) 247 states that “inmate firefighters shall be paid an hourly wage equal to the lowest nonincarcerated firefighter wage in the State of California for the time that they are actively fighting a fire. The lowest firefighter wage shall be updated annually.”
This move comes after the 2024 elections where California voters failed to pass Proposition 6, which would have eliminated the forced, unpaid inmate labor from the California constitution. California voters had the chance to get rid of this slavery clause, but lost by approximately six percent. Now, this slavery clause is inadequately compensating inmate firefighters who are risking their lives to help Southern Californian communities.
Instead of paying these inmates more, CDCR has put out multiple posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, thanking these inmates for their hard work: “The LA community stands united in gratitude for the over 1,000 CDCR staff and incarcerated firefighters who are selflessly aiding others, embodying the spirit of resilience and hope even in anonymity. Thank you for the warm welcome to our crew.” However, thanking inmates for their work isn’t the same as fairly paying them for their important contributions to containing the LA fires and upholding public safety.
Braving powerful winds and debris, these inmate firefighters have been risking their lives to save LA from the blazes currently scorching the county. As one of the leading states spearheading change, it is embarrassing that California is one of the 20 states that still have forced labor clauses in their constitution — legalizing slavery. There is no place in society for slavery clauses and forced labor practices that diminish the earning potential for these California inmates.
