the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jan 20, 2025
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), 1,015 inmate firefighters worked to stop the devastating Los Angeles County fires. But the State of California paid a pittance for this highly dangerous work, $10.24 a day, and an additional $1 for each hour they battle the deadly blazes. The maximum pay can reach no more than $29.80 if a prisoner fights the blazes for 24 hours.
This is miserable pay compared to California’s minimum wage, which is $16.50 an hour. These prisoner firefighters earn much less than the state’s seasonal firefighters, who can make a monthly base salary of more than $4,600, and the firefighters employed by the city of Los Angeles, whose salaries start at over $85,000 yearly.
Even with this salary, the fire departments cannot recruit enough firefighters because many people find this salary too low in the face of the high injury rate and deadly work conditions.
For this reason, the State of California continuously schemes to compensate for this firefighter shortage by using prisoners.
For some inmate firefighters, such dangerous work may be a respite from their brutal conditions. As one inmate said, “I was in the prison yard, I’m seeing guys get stabbed, get jumped, get beat up. Cops treat us like s---. But here we get better treatment. They talk to us like humans. We got a job. We’re underpaid, but we got a job.” This capitalist society puts us into such traps, and then such deadly, forced work becomes a choice of the lesser of two evils!
The Los Angeles Times reported that, in the first ten days after Los Angeles’ unprecedented firestorm began, the Eaton and Palisades fires consumed nearly 40,000 acres of homes, businesses, and landmarks in Altadena and Pacific Palisades and killed at least two dozen people.
The contribution of these prisoners to the fight against this immense destruction was crucial and undeniable. But, like other workers, they are extremely shortchanged by this social order.