Inmate Firefighter
Photo credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images – Getty Images

I was looking at an AOL news feed and decided to click on to a story showing dramatic pictures of the California wildfires. One picture caught my interest when the caption read: “Inmates Battling California Wildfires.” 

I automatically Googled “Inmates Firefighters in California.” In one of the articles, it mentioned how inmates who are sentenced for minor crimes can be qualified to participate in a program where they can be trained to battle the fires, specifically in certain wooded areas.

In one of the articles, a prison inmate was picked to participate. He was in prison for selling drugs. This had been his second conviction and he was sentenced to 7½ years. If he qualified for the program, he need only serve 35% of his sentence. He decided this would be his last chance, because if he had a third conviction, he would be sentenced to life in prison. For this firefighter program, he would be removed from the prison that he was currently in, and taken to a specific camp dedicated to those chosen for this inmate firefighter program.

It’s not as easy as it sounds because you have to go through a lot of pretesting (which involved testing your mentality and how you would answer specific question pertaining to your case). If you qualify for that, then you have to go to the final step, which is the physical testing. Unlike some cities, where they lower the standards for emergency personnel requirements, this program does not allow that.

The State of California has 7 of these camps for male inmates and 3 camps for women who want to come inmate firefighters. The inmate who was interviewed for the article said what a change it was from the scenery that he would see every day when he was in a regular prison. As he was riding to go to the training camp to be a firefighter, he was observing the pinecones and nature in general and how the air was so different.

California Wildfire
Photo credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images – Getty Images

I decided to Google to see if they also have a similar program in New Jersey. I found no evidence for this. But, in related articles I found something to be very sad. In 1982, there was a fire in a jail in Jersey City. The jail was very overcrowded with 508 inmates. It was designed to hold only 280 inmates. 7 inmates died in that fire, with ages ranging from 19 to 45. The irony is that most of the inmates being held there were for minor charges such as disorderly conduct, or public intoxication. One inmate who was 19 years old and died was due to appear in court the next morning.

I hope with the new marijuana laws  which are up in the air, prevent something like this from  ever happening again, especially when it’s a minor charge. There are so many wildfires in California, and it seems like every year more properties are claimed. 

The last wildfires were intentionally started. What kind of sentence would you give that person? I know in New Jersey they have a program where prison inmates are assigned to pick up trash on the highways, but I don’t know if there are any other programs offered to them.

According to another article I saw, it states that California saves around $90 million by using inmates in the firefighter’s programs and other programs that are not as hazardous. There was even an article which stated how the inmate firefighters program started and other programs that were geared towards helping inmates ease their way back into society once they have been released. 

I’ve only given you the tip of the iceberg and there are many more layers that I discovered and how some states are trying to start a positive rehab of inmates behind bars. For me, I think the toughest program is the one for the inmate firefighters. God bless all those men and women who qualify, because if anyone deserves an early release, it would be them. C.M.

In the Path of Destruction
Photo credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images – Getty Images