Prison Labor in the Spotlight as Incarcerated California Firefighters Risk Lives for $5-10/Day

[Uncle Joe]

Around Los Angeles, firefighting crews continue to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires and other smaller blazes. Nearly a thousand of the firefighters deployed to help contain the devastating fires are incarcerated. They have been working around the clock while earning as little as between $5.80 to $10.24 a day. For more on how California's incarcerated firefighting program works, we speak to investigative journalist Keri Blakinger, who is herself formerly incarcerated, and who recently had to evacuate her home in Los Angeles.

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[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. I thought they were only paid a dollar a day.

5 to 10 dollars is a huge improvement.

[Oopsie Daisy]

2. Excellent. I thank them for their service.

[Oppaloopa]

3. I am shocked I did not realize it was that low

[johnnyfins]

4. HA! Goes hand in hand with the new

legislation that allows for undocumented persons to be detained for such low level crimes as shoplifting.

Get them in jail, then use them as slave labor!

[johnnyfins]

5. Prolly the goal all along.

Fascists love them some slave laborers.

[Oopsie Daisy]

6. It's not forced labor. This is voluntary.

Hundreds of California prison inmates fight wildfires - and stigma
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3rwdjwglx2o