Program Example

More than half of California’s 3,800 full-time wildland fighters are prison inmates, who earn $1.45 a day and $1 an hour while fighting fires. Additionally, participating inmates earn two days off their sentences for each day of work. At intake, prisoners are carefully screened and informed of the program; those interested are invited to submit an application. They must be physically fit and have no history of violent crime, sex offenses, arson or escape. Generally, the California Department of Correction (CDC) only selects individuals with little sentence time remaining in order to reduce the incentive for flight among participants.

Participants are housed in “conservation camps” across the state, which are located in the wilderness areas they are designed to preserve. Before participants are transferred to a camp, they must complete a rigorous two-week training program in the correctional facility. At the camp, the CDC oversees security and general operations. Camps are minimum security, consisting of about 10 buildings, including military-style barracks, a dining hall, administration building, and work areas. Approximately 90 inmates are housed at each of the state’s 39 camps.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) trains all inmate fire crews and supervises most camp crews on the fire line. 14 inmates generally serve on a single crew. Overseen by a Fire Department foreman, fire crews are “on-call” to respond to an emergency anywhere in the state. If not responding to an emergency, crews report at 8 A.M. for work assignment, which consists of road, park, and trail maintenance. At the end of the work day, which generally ends around 3:30, the inmates are returned to the camp in the custody of a CDC officer.