Re: Why Prisonors? Try Because The National Guard.Is In Iraq

On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:54:12 -0700, Too_Many_Tools
<too_many_tools@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hmm...why are we using inexperienced prisionors when the job would
normally be done by National Guard personnel?

They do get training. And, they are closely selected. They have to
be in prison for non-violent offenses and nearing the ends of their
sentences. My soon to be son-in-law got his start in fire fighting
while in the custody of the California Youth Authority. He loved it
and it truly turned his life around. He is now with what used to
called CDF but is now CalFire. He has taken every class offered to
improve his status and value in his job. Because his job is that of
"floater" (he goes to different fire stations to cover for people who
have time off) he hasn't been down in Southern California. He's been
covering for the fire fighters who are.
Prisoners were being used long before Iraq started.
Sue


Because the majority of the National Guard and their equipment is over
in Iraq.

The downside is your house likely burns.

The upside is that Iraq is safer from brush fires.

The Republicans are right again.

TMT


California turns to prisoners to fight huge fires By Adam Tanner
Fri Oct 26, 8:18 AM ET



As California struggles to extinguish some of the state's most
devastating forest fires, it has turned to a record number of
prisoners for some of the most demanding work.

Overnight on Friday, women like Carmen Rebelez, 38, a convicted drug
offender, and Michelle Millard, 33, serving five years for counterfeit
checks and money, were uprooting plants and clearing flammable trees
and shrubs.

Such work is designed to create a perimeter around the Witch Fire, the
most dangerous of the California blazes, and keep it from spreading.

"I've been doing time my whole entire life, since I was 14," Millard
said. "It's time I learned something different."

Added Rebelez: "I want to make a change in my lifestyle, so when I get
out, I can do something positive. ... We made some wrong choices and
we are making an effort to change."

Of about 9,000 firefighters battling the southern California flames,
nearly 3,000 are inmates. The prisoners typically get two days off
their sentence for each on the fire lines. About 300 are from all-
women prisoner brigades.

Millard worked with a small team of women in a remote area about two
hours northeast of San Diego. To get to the mountainside that needed
protection, the women hiked for an hour over charred landscape and
brush.

"It's backbreaking work. It's the hardest work I've ever done," said
Tonya Randall Evans, a former hotel cleaner with a 5 1/2-year prison
sentence for dealing cocaine. "But it's given me six months off my
sentence."

Inmate Susan Segal, 42, fell about 25 feet down the precarious
mountainside on Thursday, but was soon back on the job.

She and the others wore orange fire protective garb (regular
firefighters wear yellow), hard hats and 60-pound (27-kg) backpacks.
Their faces were blackened by soot.

PRAISE FROM THE PROS

Such work earns praise from many firefighters, who said this week's
fires were among the most difficult they've had to fight.

"They are the workhorses. They do the real difficult physical labor,"
said Jeff Terpstra, a battalion chief from Aptos, California. "They
are on their best behavior. It's a right they earn."

Two inmates died fighting fires in 1999 and 2000 in the California
program started after World War Two. Most in the program are serving
only a few years and have committed nonviolent crimes.

Tom Klimas, a fireman who has managed prison crews for the past seven
years, said, "It's draining -- emotionally, physically, mentally. A
lot of them have never had jobs before, other than cooking drugs. A
lot of them have not been part of a team.

"Most people don't want to work with inmates," he said, adding that he
was first lured by a 10 percent bonus for the position before becoming
enthusiastic about such work.

Inmates earn about $1 an hour when fighting fires, a salary the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says saves
state taxpayers $80 million a year.

Inmates rarely try to escape from the fire lines, California prison
officials say, but last year, 11 tried to flee from the minimum
security camps where they live.

When two inmates were given the task on Thursday of hiking up the
mountain with an unsupervised hour-long return to bring back more
water, one said it would be pointless to try to escape.

They were in a remote region and, as a two-time offender, she did not
want to risk triggering California's stern 25-year punishment for
third-time offenders.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why Prisonors? Try Because The National Guard.Is In Iraq
    ... In any case, the NG doesn't so much provide fireline labor as it does all types of logistical and tactical support to the fire operation, and prison fire crews have been in use for decades, at least. ... California turns to prisoners to fight huge fires By Adam Tanner ... Two inmates died fighting fires in 1999 and 2000 in the California ...
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  • Re: Why Prisonors? Try Because The National Guard.Is In Iraq
    ... In any case, the NG doesn't so much provide fireline labor as it does all types of logistical and tactical support to the fire operation, and prison fire crews have been in use for decades, at least. ... California turns to prisoners to fight huge fires By Adam Tanner ... Two inmates died fighting fires in 1999 and 2000 in the California ...
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  • Re: Why Prisonors? Try Because The National Guard.Is In Iraq
    ... California turns to prisoners to fight huge fires By Adam Tanner ... Two inmates died fighting fires in 1999 and 2000 in the California ... a fireman who has managed prison crews for the past seven ...
    (misc.survivalism)
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