Fighting Flames for $11 a Day: The Injustice Behind California’s Incarcerated Firefighters

incarcerated firefighters fighting the wildfires
Zain Murdock
January 28, 2025

Despite the historic commitment of the U.S.  to enslaved labor and anti-Black exploitation, it will never be moral or sustainable. In November 2024, California voters decided to keep prison slavery. Now, over 1,000 incarcerated firefighters, including teenagers, are standing between them and the flames sweeping through Los Angeles.

One group reported being underappreciated and underpaid. They are even underfed, working 24-hour shifts without meals. They make up to $11 per day on the frontlines, while L.A.F.D. firefighters make at least $40 an hour. Once released, they are ineligible to become professional firefighters.

Prisons contribute to climate change through carbon dioxide emissions. Incarcerated people are uniquely vulnerable during natural disasters. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who previously criminalized the masks communities need to survive the fires now, also cut $17.5 million from the fire department budget and gave police a $138 million raise. As residents fear for their livelihoods, L.A.P.D. arrests people for “looting.”

Still, for some incarcerated firefighters, firefighting is resistance in a system intended to break spirits. Formerly incarcerated firefighter Royal Ramey, for example, co-founded a program promoting expungement and pathways for people in prison fire camps wanting to continue on the outside. “Purpose is something they take from you in prison,” Ramey says. “This gives it back.”

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