WILDFIRE WATCH
THE 7,500 firefighters battling to control
C
alifornia’s wildfires include more than 900 Californian prisoners. Prisoner firefighters make up 30 percent of California’s regular force, which has used them since 1915 and without them couldn’t afford the manpower it needs.
Prisoners choose the work for the benefit of living outside prison, because they get a day off their sentence for each day’s firefighting, and because it’s seen as worthwhile work. But recent reports criticise the programme as exploitative (they earn around $1 an hour) and reliant on coerced choice (staying inside prison being the greater of two evils).