June 15, 2011
Fate unclear for Calif. inmate firefighting crews
State officials in California are concerned that a move to save money and reduce the state's prison population will have major consequences during firefighting season, jeopardizing a program that puts 4,300 state prison inmates on the front lines of wildland blazes each year.
The inmate crews provide a vital work force in a state where wildfires burn hundreds of homes and tens of thousands of acres in a typical year and have become even more important as budget cuts have reduced the number of seasonal firefighters employed by the state.
It's the largest such program in the nation, with inmates making up nearly half of California's wildland firefighters. But it's endangered by Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shift responsibility for tens of thousands of lower-level offenders from state prisons to county jails to save the state money and to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a lower court in ordering California to reduce overcrowding in its prison system...
LINK - SFGate.com
