California’s Use of Prison Labor to Fight the Fires Is a Health Justice Issue

Last week, an old tweet from the California Department of Corrections resurfaced.
“Today, more than 2,000 volunteer inmate firefighters, including 58 youth offenders, are battling wildfire flames throughout CA. Inmate firefighters serve a vital role, clearing thick brush down to bare soil to stop the fire’s spread. #CarrFire #FergusonFire #MendocinoComplex”
Many reacted the same as when it was first posted: in disapproval. Gene Demby from NPR responded:
“Pressing incarcerated children into fighting wildfires catalyzed by global warming and then bragging about is very very America”
As herculean and heroic a task it is to fight wildfires, these firefighters from the prison system are victims of the state they vow to serve.
Vox recently reported that almost a third of California’s firefighters in times of wildfires are individuals who are incarcerated, including youth offenders. This practice has been going on since Word War II. Nowadays, inmates get paid $1 per hour in addition to $2 per day, with the possibility of 72-hour shifts. They do not, however, upon release from the prison system, have the opportunity to join the fire department despite having accrued significant experience. Considering the health hazards associated with being a firefighter and the barriers individuals with a history of incarceration face when seeking healthcare after release, this is a health justice issue.
A study published in 2015, including nearly 20,000 male firefighters from California, Pennsylvania and Illinois who were active for at least one day from 1950 and 2009, found an increased risk of lung cancer and leukemia associated with firefighting exposure. Lung cancer and leukemia are notably the deadliest and 6th deadliest cancers worldwide. Another concern, of course, is the risk of getting injured, or worse yet, dying on the job. According to TIME, more than 1000 inmate firefighters have required hospital care over the past 5 years, they are 4 times more likely to incur object-induced injuries including cuts, bruises, dislocations and fractures compared to their professional counterparts in the same fires, and 8 times more likely to be injured after inhaling smoke. Over past two years, 3 inmate firefighters have died due to occupational injuries.
Once released from prison, many other factors will impact these individuals’ health. Having a history of incarceration makes it particularly difficult to find employment, access housing and have continuous medical care due to economic reasons and the stigma associated with incarceration. What’s more, mortality from chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes is higher among those who have been incarcerated. A Washington state study, for instance, found that compared to the general population, a history of incarceration rendered individuals twice as likely to die of heart disease, and more than one and a half times as likely to die of cancer, notwithstanding additional toxic exposures.
This issue is just an appendage of a larger machine that is exploitative, poorly remunerated prison labor. It is more often heard of in the context of privately owned prisons, where the inmates’ work benefits large corporations. This stings more, however, when perpetrated by the state, especially a state that flaunts its long-standing history of implementing progressive policies for its people. Can this service to the state truly be considered “volunteering” given the power imbalance between inmates and the correctional system, especially in the case of youth offenders?
Certainly, inmate firefighters (the adults, more so than the youth) have some agency in this situation. Some in fact, appreciate the opportunity, and see it as a chance to do something good. That being said, the risks are particularly high, and giving them the opportunity to feel as though they are doing something good without adequate remuneration is simply not enough.
It is thus imperative that the state of California comes up with plans to rectify this power imbalance. One simple way, for starters, could be breaking down the obstacles that prohibit individuals with a criminal record from access to jobs in the fire department, or further yet, a guaranteed position upon release. This would not only come close to a fair exchange, but it would also contribute to addressing health challenges otherwise faced in the setting of unemployment, or unstable employment, including but not limited to health insurance coverage, food and housing security.
While it is important that California extinguishes these wildfires in the safest way possible for its citizens, it should not come at the expense of its prison population’s health under the guise of volunteering. A state viewed as a beacon of progressivism should live up to its reputation, and in this case, in its treatment of some of its most vulnerable citizens: those who are incarcerated.