Some inmates saw the Calif. firefighter program as 'redemption.' Newsom is set to close it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Already faced with a dwindling federal workforce, California is preparing to shut down one of its main training facilities for inmate firefighters as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce the state’s prison population.

The California Correctional Center in Lassen County, located near two national forests in the northeastern part of the state, is slated to close in June 2022 and its fire training program relocated nearly five hours south to the Sierra Conservation Center in Jamestown.

Closing the 58-year-old prison is an extension of Newsom’s larger push to end mass incarceration, but community members and current firefighters worry that reducing the number of inmate firefighters could compromise the state’s ability to fight increasingly deadly wildfires.

“We are in desperate need of these programs,” said Brandon Dunham, a former United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management firefighter who founded and hosts a podcast for wildland firefighters called “The Anchor Point Podcast.” “We’re already short-staffed and have dismal numbers. They need us and we need them.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/some-inmates-saw-the-calif-firefighter-program-as-redemption-newsom-is-set-to-close-it/ar-AAKKDF7

[marble falls]

1. It's a bad idea to close one of the biggest sources of trained fire fighters, let alone a good ...

... opportunity for these men and women to make something meaningful of their lives by dint of hard work, commitment, and education.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I hope that some way can be found so that inmates can continue to be recruited into this program.

It's a vital service, both for the state's firefighter program and for the incarcerated who need it to get onto a better life path.

[Mr.Bill]

3. Most of the people in this program

are low level drug offenders serving short terms that probably shouldn't be in prison anyway. You are not allowed in the program if you have committed certain crimes, among them violent crimes or sex crimes. These people could be sentenced to a work release program where they can do the firefighting work without being incarcerated. The program shouldn't end, it should be redesigned. I think that may be what they are working towards.

[mikeysnot]

4. My brother inlaw went through this program

it was essentially slave labor camp.

He worked forty days straight in the bush with little amenities.

His crime, driving recklessly in a empty parking lot.

To be fair he has a wrap sheet a mile long, but they are all nonviolent misdemeanors.

He had a penchant for sneaking into hotels and living for free for weeks on end.

His living in a penthouse hotel for a month in Vegas is classic.

I told him to write a book on his exploits. Still waiting.

He is out of the program now and living a honest life working his ass off trying to get done with his out treatment.