Article 438SJ Meet the Prisoners Being Paid $1 an Hour to Battle the Deadly Climate-Fueled Fires of California

Meet the Prisoners Being Paid $1 an Hour to Battle the Deadly Climate-Fueled Fires of California

by
mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
from Democracy Now! on (#438SJ)
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As the death toll from the Camp Fire rises to 77, California is combatting its deadliest fire in state history using prison labor. Some 1,500 of the 9,400 firefighters currently battling fires in California are incarcerated. They make just a dollar an hour, but are rarely eligible to get jobs as firefighters after their release. According to some estimates, California saves up to $100 million a year by using prison labor to fight its biggest environmental problem. In September the Democracy Now! team traveled to the Delta Conservation Camp in Northern California, a low-security prison where more than 100 men are imprisoned. We interviewed incarcerated firefighters who had just returned from a 24-hour shift fighting the Snell Fire in Napa County.

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