As wildfires cause devastation across California, many are praising the brave wildfire workforce on the front lines battling the flames. Yet what many do not realize is that 30% of that workforce are incarcerated individuals, a group relied upon for decades to bolster firefighting efforts, yet not afforded the same rights and dignity as non-incarcerated workers. Their involvement highlights a controversial exception clause in the 13^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery—except as a punishment for crime.

Exploited labor

The conditions under which incarcerated firefighters work raise serious questions about fairness and equity. According to a report published by Forbes, compensation for incarcerated firefighters is inhumanely low, with their earnings ranging from $0.16 to $0.74 per hour, or a maximum daily rate of $5.80 to 10.24, depending on their skill level and task assigned.

Moreover, the grueling work is often carried out under outrageously inadequate conditions. As written in the article,

Most of their lunches consist of a simple sandwich—two pieces of white bread with a few slices of bologna—plus an apple. Their daily food budget of approximately $4 per day is hardly enough to sustain them for their high volume of manual labor.

Incarcerated firefighters have some of the highest injury rates among all prison workers and are four times more likely to sustain injuries compared to other firefighters. Also, they work some of the longest hours and have some of the hardest tasks to execute. They don’t shoot water hoses; they use powered chainsaws and manual hand tools, such as axes, with the goal of starving the fire of fuel to continue to burn.

Additionally, despite their critical contributions, these workers are excluded from pathways to professional firefighting upon release, leaving them with few opportunities to translate their experience into stable employment.

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