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Firefighters

Three firefighters carrying power tools walk through a forest.
Closing Argument January 11
Incarcerated Firefighters Do Risky, Low-Pay Work. Many Say It’s The Best Job Behind Bars.
More than 900 prison firefighters were responding to the crisis in Los Angeles — but their pay is low and the ethics of their choice are complicated.
By and , The Marshall Project, and , The Los Angeles Times
An illustration shows firefighters in a group hug, a Black man in the center welcoming a White man walking up, surrounded by bare tree branches and with a big fire in the background.
Life Inside August 4, 2023
Why Fighting California Wildfires Was the Best Prison Job I Ever Had
On the fire line, David Desmond found that racial segregation and gang affiliation could not withstand the unifying power of extinguishing a blaze.
By David Desmond
Prisoners stand in line at Elmore Correctional Facility in Elmore, Ala., in 2015. Thousands of Alabama prisoners began a work strike this week to protest poor prison conditions.
Closing Argument October 1, 2022
What an Alabama Prisoners’ Strike Tells Us About Prison Labor
Exploitation of incarcerated people isn’t limited to lockups. Voters in some states have a chance to curtail it.
By
Rasheed Lockheart at San Quentin State Prison in 2018.
Life Inside October 1, 2020
Being a Prison Firefighter Taught Me to Save Lives
I first joined the San Quentin fire department to get my own room, eat well and train dogs. It ended up being the most important experience of my life.
By Rasheed Lockheart, as told to
The CZU Lightning Complex fire, as seen from La Honda, California, on August 19, 2020.
News September 2, 2020
The Former Prisoners Fighting California’s Wildfires
“When people are in need, they don’t give a shit where you’re from or what your history is.”
By
Eduardo Amezcua, an inmate firefighter from the Antelope Conservation Camp mops up hot spots during the wildfires that devastated large swaths of California’s wine country in Sonoma County. Roughly 3,800 inmates in the state’s prison system are on the front lines of active wild fires this fall.
The Frame October 23, 2017
In California, the Prisoners Fighting the Wine Country Wildfires
Photographer Brian L. Frank captures the lives of men on the fire lines and at home in prison conservation camps.
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