Feeling Rebloggy
As California firefighters work to contain the largest wildfire in state history, they find themselves working their 24-hour shifts alongside a group of unlikely partners: 3,400 inmates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The groups work in unison, but while salaried California firefighters earn an annual mean wage of $74,000 plus benefits, inmates earn just $2 per day with an additional $1 per hour when fighting an active fire.
Inmates without histories of arson, sexual crimes, kidnapping, gang-affiliation, escape attempts or facing a life sentence are allowed to volunteer for the firefighting program and are trained for two weeks in fire safety and field conditions before taking a physical exam. Once the exam is passed, prisoners are sent to live in one of 43 low-security field camps throughout the state. Juvenile delinquents are also eligible for the program, at least 58 youth offenders are currently fighting active wildfires.
~Newsweek
If I was a prisoner, I'd probably volunteer to do anything to contribute to the betterment of fellow citizens. If most of the people in jail had the ability to do that an earn a living they probably wouldn't be in prison in the first place.
But they should be earning something of real value, like time off their sentence or simply more money if they've committed crimes against people --which means their remaining incarcerated is critical to public safety.
The only thing that's not acceptable is pay so low that it might as well not exist
BLACKCHICKROCKED.BLOGSPOT.COM
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