A ballot measure passed last month to ease prison crowding means California is facing the prospect of a severely depleted wildfire protection force.
The state relies on its prison inmate population to make up most of the force but does not take on violent criminals, sex offenders and arsonists. Misdemeanor offenders, with shorter sentences, have long been ineligible because training them is not considered worth the investment.
17 Dec 2014 . YUCAIPA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Prison inmate Kevin Black, 54, who is in the last 90 days of an eleven-year sentence, looks on as he lays water pipe outside Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35 in Yucaipa, California.
Black is among thousands of convicted felons who form the backbone of California's wildfire protection force under a unique and little-known prison labour program.
"It re-acclimates you to going back to society," said Black, due for release in February after serving nearly a 12-year sentence for robbery, about a third of that at Oak Glen.
17 Dec 2014 . YUCAIPA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Prison inmate Angel Ramirez, 21, reads a book while lying on his bed at Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35.
The passed ballot measure aims to tackle prison crowding by reducing felony sentences to misdemeanour jail terms for most non-violent, low-level offences, including many drug crimes.
That measure will likely diminish the very segment of the inmate population that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, draws upon to fill its wild-land firefighting crews.
17 Dec 2014 . YUCAIPA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Prison inmates Gilbert Serrato, 33, (L) and Joshua Mojarro, 28, wait to be assigned to work projects at Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35.
Housed in 39 minimum-security "conservation camps" run by the state corrections department, the firefighting inmates also do brush clearance, flood control and park maintenance projects.
17 Dec 2014 . YUCAIPA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
A sign indicating fires that prison inmates have been paid for is seen on a window at Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35.
Participation is voluntary, and many inmates earn two days off their sentences for each day in camp. The pay is scant - just $1.45 a day in camp plus $1 an hour on the fire line.
"Nobody in the world would do this work for that kind of money. That's why they use us," said Oak Glen inmate firefighter Ishmil Swafford, 35, who is ineligible for a reduction in his 10-year-plus term for burglary.