California is exploiting prison labor, paying
people as little as $1/hour to fight wildfires.
Tell CA Governor & Department of
Corrections to stop exploiting the labor of
California's incarcerated NOW !
The wildfires raging across northern and southern California right now have killed at least 48 people.1 Over the past year, fires have caused over $1 billion in property damage and nearly 7,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed. These wildfires have also had a big impact on California's incarcerated population who have risked their lives fighting wildfires--two inmates have already been killed in the line of duty.2 And the incarcerated workers fighting these fires are making as little as $1/hour.
Incarcerated workers are not protected under any work safety regulations. They often return from fighting fires with broken ankles, arms, burns, and suffering from extreme exhaustion. To make matters worse, many of the incarcerated people doing this work are women, most of whom are mothers, and children. Mothers and youth often choose to take on this dangerous work because they are told that participation could accelerate their release date by earning “good behavior,” but in actuality it typically results in a mere two days off one’s sentence.3 On top of all of this, incarcerated firefighters can't even get jobs as firefighters once they are released from prison.
Fighting fires is backbreaking labor--incarcerated workers are using hoes and chainsaws to manipulate the landscape and redirect fires in their tracks. It’s deadly work that incarcerated people are being forced to do. California Corrections makes every person in low-level security take aptitude assessments to determine where they will work--and if they’re eligible for the CalFire program, or to work at the lesser known CDCR Fire Department, they have no choice but to go to work.4 If they refuse, they will be hit with disciplinary infractions that could jeopardize their opportunity to be freed early or even send them to the hole, or isolation.
When you consider that participants are barely paid anything, have no choice to refuse, and won’t even be able to receive a state license to become a firefighter on the outside, it’s clear that this is in no way voluntary or even mutually beneficial to the incarcerated community. Adding the fact that the state proudly uses youth to fight these deadly fires, makes this an egregious violation of human rights. No doubt about it : this is modern-day slavery.
That's why we're calling on the state to end the practice of using youth to fight fires, ensure that incarcerated workers in the CalFire program receive the same wage as firefighters who aren't incarcerated, and that a pathway is created for prisoners working as firefighters to be licensed to work a firefighters on the outside. There is momentum towards making this program more mutually beneficial for incarcerated workers and this year, the state started a pilot program to allow parolees to receive state licenses and get jobs as firefighters when they are released.5 Now, with a new incoming Governor, Gavin Newsom, we have to demand that California take it further to implement a plan that will stop the exploitation of incarcerated firefighters for good. Will you join us ?
California's Governor Jerry Brown has stated that prisoners working as firefighters are doing "very important" work, however, they continue to be unfairly compensated. In fact, prisoners are being “leased out” in a fashion similar to slavery, their labor is given to public and private corporations as a part of the “convict-leasing system.” 6 Slavery in America technically ended in 1865, but a loophole in the 13th Amendment has allowed it to go on today “as a punishment for crimes. ” As a result, there are more people performing mandatory, essentially unpaid, hard labor in America today than there were in 1830.7
The more than 2 million incarcerated people in America today are legally considered slaves under the U.S constitution. Prison labor is a billion dollar industry that provides few if any positive outcomes for those who are actually doing the work--incarcerated folks. Supporters of prison labor argue that it is good for prisoners because it gives them something productive to do and that it can provide job skills that are transferable. However, this is often not the case. Rather, the prison industry is concerned about making money by contracting prison labor, not about the wellbeing of people who are incarcerated.
The movement to end prison labor is growing and over the past few years, people have pressured companies such as Victoria’s Secret, Whole Foods, and Aramark for their use of prison labor. Big corporations choose to use prison labor because it's cheap for them. However, by making it just as expensive to pay prisoners as it would be to pay people not in prison, the advantage of using prison labor would be greatly decreased. Essentially when prisoners are paid a fair wage, the government and corporations will be less likely to use prison labor; thus there will be less of an incentive to keep people incarcerated.
The wildfires in California highlight some of the most serious issues we face as a society today; environmental degradation, worker exploitation, and environmental racism with incarcerated folks, most of whom are Black and brown, woking on the front line. However, California can be leader in ending the exploitative use of prison labor. Now, with the new Governor-elect Gavin Newsom promising to be a champion of criminal justice reform we have decision maker who has promised to respond to our demands. And, we already have the momentum, and people power needed to win.
Until justice is real,
Clarise, Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Kristen, Anay, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References :
1. "California Wildfires Updates : 48 Dead in Camp Fire, Toll Expected to Rise", 14 November 2018. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/108100?t=9&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv
2. "California is running out of inmates to fight its fires", The Atlantic, 7 December 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/12789?t=11&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv
3. "Incarcerated women risk their lives fighting California fires. It's part of a long history of prison labor", PBS News Hour, 22 October 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/10383?t=13&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv
4. "The incarcerated women who fight California's wildfires", The New York Times, 31 August 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/12846?t=14&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv?
5. "State officials make case for Parolee fire training camp near Camarillo", VC Star, 11 April 2018. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/108102?t=16&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv
6. "The incarcerated women who fight California's wildfires", The New York Times, 31 August 2017. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/12846?t=17&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv?
7. "America never abolished slavery", Huffington Post, 2 March 2015. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/12807?t=19&akid=21885%2E1942551%2E4fQ0Iv
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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