Fire Camps
May 22, 2012
CalFire crews have training in preparation
A unit purchased with a Department of Homeland Security grant about four months ago will be stationed with the Shasta-Trinity Unit in the Redding area, Capt. Kyle Johnson said.
"We're pretty excited about it," Johnson said. "The guts are the same (as the vehicle being replaced), but it's a little different so we're trying to get as many people oriented to it as possible."
The engine in the command center, which is the sixth one to be put into service state-wide, is the same as those on the newer engines, which will make things easier for the mechanics, Johnson said...
LINK - RedBluffDailyNEws.com
May 1, 2012
Unhappy Campers: State prison sentences extended for three
Three state prisoners have had their prison terms extended as a result of new felony convictions entered in Mendocino County Superior Court.
In the first case, an inmate housed at the Chamberlain Creek Conservation Camp snuck out of the camp after curfew on the night of October 1, 2011 to meet a woman. An off-duty correctional guard happened upon the couple in flagrante delicto in a car about a half mile from the prison camp. Convicted of a walk-away escape, Daniel Paul Mortensen, 28, of Rescue, Calif., was sentenced on April 6 to serve an additional 32 months in prison.
At the time of his escape, Mortensen was serving a prison sentence out of the El Dorado County Superior Court for domestic violence-related criminal intimidation of a witness, a felony...
LINK - UkiahDailyJournal.com
March 2, 2012
Events Calendar: Camps Chapter Statewide Meeting - April 2012
Camps Chapter Statewide Meeting - April 27th and 28th in San Luis Obispo, CA - see flyer below for details or view the events page for a full list of scheduled CCPOA events.
February 1, 2012
Inmate Fire Crews Focus Of New Bill From Lake Elsinore Lawmaker
Lake Elsinore Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries introduced legislation Monday that would put in place one option for keeping inmate fire crews up and running.
The bill, AB 1562, was drafted to address anticipated cuts in the number of inmate fire crews available to Cal Fire as a result of a new law that shifts prisoners from state-run fire conservation camps into county jails, according to Jeff Greene, spokesman for the Assemblyman’s office.
The legislation gives counties an option over the current alternatives of hiring added fire personnel or losing the inmate firefighters altogether, Greene said....
LINK - LakeElsinore-Wildomar.Patch.com
January 19, 2012
Camps Chapter Statewide Meeting: January 26, 2012
Information about the Thursday, January 26, 2012 Camps Chapter Statewide Meeting...
January 5, 2012
Legislation targets CDCR Fire Camps / Inmates
State Sen. Doug LaMalfa has introduced a bill that would require state prison officials to notify local authorities 10 business days before an inmate is transferred into a state prison camp.
The Richvale Republican's bill, which goes before the Senate's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, comes in response to a Record Searchlight investigation published this spring that found one in five inmates at the state's 41 fire camps have been convicted of violent crimes, including attacks on officers.
The investigation revealed escapes from the camp are common and have sometimes ended with violent consequences, including a fatal shooting of a San Francisco police officer in 2006 by an inmate who walked away from a camp in Humboldt County...
LINK - Redding.com
January 4, 2012
Inmate firefighter dies on training hike at Camp San Luis Obispo
An inmate firefighter assigned to Cuesta Fire Camp, located at the California Men’s Colony, died while taking part in a County/Cal Fire training program at Camp San Luis Obispo.
Cal Fire Capt. Jane Schmitz said the inmate collapsed while hiking on the military base shortly after 3:30 Wednesday afternoon...
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
January 3, 2012
Calif. prison realignment may mean 1,500 less inmate firefighters
Areas at risk of wildfires and mudslides could have fewer crews to help out in 2013. The pool of inmate firefighters who pitch in during disasters is shrinking.
For thousands of state prisoners, fighting wildfires offers a chance to earn credit toward their sentence and the opportunity to do more than sit behind bars.
But next year, the program run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and Cal Fire will have to rely on fewer inmates due to prison realignment efforts...
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
December 29, 2011
Juvenile offender fire camp closing
A Camarillo camp where juvenile offenders have been trained to fight fires will close Friday, leaving only one similar camp open in California, authorities said Wednesday.
Youths who have been trained at the camp will be reassigned to a camp known as Pine Grove in Amador County in Northern California.
At its peak, the Camarillo camp, known as the S. Carraway Public Service and Fire Center, housed five fire crews, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire...
LINK - VCStar.com
December 27, 2011
California could lose 1,500 inmate firefighters
When Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature shifted responsibility for thousands of state prisoners to county jails, some authorities said it would mean more offenders on the streets breaking the law.
Few saw another possible peril: the loss of more than 1,500 inmate firefighters.
Since World War II, the state has relied on nonviolent offenders serving time for such crimes as burglary, drug possession and welfare fraud to help clear brush, cut fire lines and stop infernos from spreading...
LINK - LATimes.com
December 5, 2011
Calif. inmate shift could hurt firefighting crews
Moving California's lower-level criminals to counties could deprive the state of a third of its inmate firefighters unless agreements are reached with counties, officials said Monday.
During the next two to three years, the state could lose 1,500 of the nearly 4,500 inmates who work on firefighting crews, as less serious offenders serve their time in county lockups instead of state prisons, said Richard Subia, a deputy director with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
It's the first time officials have said how many inmate firefighters might be lost to the realignment....
LINK - ModBee.com
December 3, 2011
Meeting to focus on inmate firefighters
Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, Chair of the Rural Fire Protection Working Group, has called a meeting for Monday at the State Capitol to discuss the potential loss of inmate fire crews under the state's prison realignment program.
The state runs one such camp in Solano County near Suisun City.
"While much of the discussion surrounding the realignment program has dealt with the early release of criminals and new cost burdens to local governments, a less publicized problem is the impact that these early releases may have on our state's ability to fight wildfires," said Jeffries in a press release announcing Monday's meeting...
LINK - TheReporter.com
October 15, 2011
Fire camp escapee sentenced to 16 months
An inmate who walked away from the low-security Washington Ridge Conservation Camp and led law enforcement officers on a chase across four counties before being recaptured a month later was sentenced to 16 months in state prison Friday.
Lincoln resident Jeffrey Lynn Shook, 37, fled from the conservation camp, located along Highway 20 between Nevada City and Washington, on July 7, 2010. Investigators learned that Shook was associated with the Aryan Brotherhood and might be hiding with a prison associate in the Happy Camp area about 40 miles west of Yreka...
LINK - TheUnion.com
August 25, 2011
Violent inmates in state fire camps?
The chief lobbyist for California's prison guard union told lawmakers at a hearing Thursday at the Capitol he's worried more dangerous inmates might be placed in fire camps under a budget plan that will transfer thousands of prisoners from state to county custody.
Craig Brown of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association said that over the years, the prison system has continually placed more dangerous prisoners in the state's 41 fire camps because fewer low-risk inmates are actually spending time behind bars.
He said if the state follows through with a plan that will give county jails the option of shipping inmates to the camps, there's little incentive sheriffs will send their least dangerous or problematic offenders...
LINK - Redding.com
August 2, 2011
Calif. female convicts get second chance as firefighters
Cynthia Hansen was a rebel in her youth, hanging out with the wrong crowd, doing drugs, and ultimately going to prison for second-degree robbery.
Now 30, and soon to be freed, she believes she has been reformed, thanks to a program that trains minimum-security inmates to become wildland firefighters.
"To fight fires was the most humbling experience of my life," she said. "To see people crying and thanking you for saving their house, kids drawing signs with stuff like 'Thank you so much' and 'We love you' — that made me feel like I can actually do something with my life."
Hansen volunteered to serve the last half of her seven-year sentence at Conservation Camp 13, which looks nothing like a prison...
LINK - FireRescue1.com
July 16, 2011
U.S. Supreme Court ruling threatens state fire camps
The U.S Supreme Court ruling requiring California to reduce its prison population has thrown the future of the state's decades-old inmate firefighter program into question amid a budget crisis that already has Cal Fire struggling with staffing cuts.
In May, the court ordered California officials to cut by roughly 33,000 the number of inmates in the state's prison system over the next two years. The decision stems from a finding that crowding has led to inadequate physical and mental health services for inmates.
To address the problem and comply with the ruling, Gov. Jerry Brown put forth "realignment" -- a plan to transfer certain nonviolent convicts to county jails and other community-based facilities around the state. Under realignment, many of the more than 4,000 offenders who make up California's 200 inmate crews would be moved out of the state system...
LINK - PE.com
July 3, 2011
Mother of murdered officer continues push for fire-camp safety
Though it’s been nearly five years since an escaped inmate shot and killed her son, a San Francisco police officer, Sandy Tuvera still struggles to talk about her loss.
“I talked with him until he took his last breath,” the 56-year-old South San Francisco woman said Thursday, her voice quavering over the phone. “That is nothing that a mother should have to do.”
While Bryan Tuvera’s death is tough to discuss, she has no problem expressing her lingering frustration with a state prison system that continues to place violent felons in the state’s minimum-security fire camps, even though after her son’s death she lobbied lawmakers to change camp policies. His killer escaped from a fire camp in Humboldt County...
LINK - Redding.com
July 3, 2011
Union wary of more violent prisoners in state’s fire camps
A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection captain and an inmate crew gather on the fireline Monday at a fire in Anderson that burned 35 acres. Cal Fire captains supervise the 4,000-plus inmates cutting hand lines at California’s fires and on work projects. Though California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation guards supervise the inmates while they're at the fire camps, fire captains watch the up to 14- to 16-man crews during the day. The captains’ union leader says he’s worried a state plan that would transfer thousands of inmates to the counties might force corrections officials to reach deeper into the prison system, transferring more inmates with violent convictions to the camps.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. Chris Willson watches over an inmate crew from Sugar Pine Conservation Camp in Bella Vista on June 24 as they prepare to mop up a fire on Canyon Road in Happy Valley.
The state’s plan to transfer thousands of inmates to county custody could lead prison officials to place even more violent prisoners in California’s 41 minimum-security fire camps, a firefighter’s union leader says...
LINK - Redding.com
June 24, 2011
Inmate firefighters are crucial to battling wildfires
Fifteen firefighter handcrews worked in the June heat with several pounds of gear to cut a line in a hillside, preventing a wildfire from spreading to homes in the rural area of the Marianas.
They worked with hand shovels, axes and chain saws in nearly vertical conditions.
Smoke rose from the brush only a few dozen feet away from the crews clad in orange, busy at their tasks.
The men and women perched on the hillside were well-trained fire personnel — personnel that happened to be incarcerated...
LINK - VVDailyPress.com
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
May 16, 2011
Fight at Alder Camp called “riot”
A scuffle at Alder Conservation Camp in Klamath on Thursday led to 13 inmates being transferred to Pelican Bay State Prison.
At about 9 a.m. Thursday, 13 inmates got into a fight inside a vehicle that transports them to project sites, said Margaret Pieper, an administrative assistant and public information officer at the California Correctional Center in Susanville.
“The fight broke out inside the vehicle,” she said. “It hadn’t left the camp yet.”
Pieper didn’t know what the fight was about, as it’s still being investigated...
LINK - Triplicate.com
April 26, 2011
Violent fire camp inmates in the news - again
One day last summer, a suspected Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member got hold of a cell phone and called a friend to break him out of a minimum-security conservation camp in Nevada City, Calif.
Once free, 36-year-old Jeffory Shook --"one of the most violent and dangerous suspects we've encountered in a long time," a sheriff in Placer County, Calif., once called him -- began a four-week crime spree, stealing cars and leading officers on dangerous chases through four counties.
No one was hurt in Shook's escape. But San Francisco police officer Bryan Tuvera was killed in a December 2006 encounter with a camp escapee. Tuvera's partner returned fire, killing the escapee...
LINK - TheRepublic.com
April 18, 2011
(not-so) non-violent, non-serious inmates in CDCR fire camps
One day last summer, a suspected Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member got hold of a cell phone and called a friend to break him out.
It was easy enough.
Although 36-year-old Jeffory Shook had twice been shot over the years while resisting arrest and Placer County’s sheriff once called him "one of the most violent and dangerous suspects we’ve encountered in a long time," state prison officials had nonetheless assigned him to a minimum-security conservation camp in Nevada City.
Now free, Shook headed north toward Siskiyou County, beginning a four-week crime spree, stealing cars and leading officers on dangerous chases through four counties...
LINK - Redding.com
April 13, 2011
Inmates Train For Duty In Advance Of Wildfire Season
During local emergencies, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department relies on highly trained personnel – including some low-risk felony offenders.
On Tuesday, more than 80 members of inmate fire crews drilled on steep ridges and in dense chaparral between Poppet Flats and Pine Cove, in the San Jacinto Mountains, to prepare for the coming fire season.
The inmate crews came from camps near Oak Glen, Hemet and other locations in Riverside County...
LINK - Patch.com
November 9, 2010
Prison officials deny request for fire camp assault, escape records
State prison officials have opened their files on inmates stationed at fire camps, but have denied more detailed requests by the Record Searchlight for records and other data on assaults and escapes at the inmate camps.
On Oct. 13, the Record Searchlight filed a request under the California Public Records Act, seeking a host of information from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) pertaining to how inmates are placed in fire and work camps as well as for reports detailing escape attempts and assaults on corrections officers and other inmates.
The newspaper filed the request after a suspected white supremacist with a history of violent encounters toward police escaped to Siskiyou County from a camp this summer. After that, local lawmakers began questioning whether violent inmates were being placed in the state’s 44 minimum-security camps, including a handful in the north state. Inmates sent to these camps usually are regarded as model inmates...
LINK - Redding.com
December 7, 2009
Riskier inmates may serve in fire camps?
A quick look at Pomona native Adam Salas reveals a quirky smile peering out from under a helmet as he and the rest of a firefighting crew inspect their chainsaws at the Oak Glen Conservation Camp.
But a second glance stumbles upon the words "CDCR Prisoner" stamped on his orange uniform and gang insignia tattooed on his eyelids, hands and neck.
Salas, 23, had never been outside Pomona until he made a terrorist threat during an argument about two years ago. That threat landed him in Tehachapi State Prison, and later Oak Glen. From there, he was dispatched to fight fires in Santa Barbara, Madera and Mariposa counties…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
September 5, 2009
Reduced prison pop may mean fewer firefighters
California's wildfires are burning through state cash at an alarming rate, with the government spending more than half its annual firefighting budget just two months into the fiscal year — even before the traditional fire season began on Tuesday.
The state's ballooning budget deficit and sharp drop in revenues resulting from the recession have forced delays in replacing aging firefighting equipment, including 40-year-old bulldozers.
The firefighting effort could face new strains if the prison system, also trying to cut costs, releases 27,000 or more low-risk inmates — the type the firefighting agency depends on for cheap, abundant labor…
LINK - Reuters.com
June 16, 2009
Inmate Firefighter Force May Shrink
On the front lines of wildfires they are, above all else, firefighters. But some wear yellow, and others wear orange. They are the inmate firefighters.
There are 4,400 inmate firefighters stationed across California, accounting for more than half of the state's total widlfire fighting force.
"The program is essential to our firefighting abilities," said Daniel Berlant of Cal Fire…
LINK - News10.net Sacramento
June 16, 2009
Grand jury report gives camp mixed reviews
Delta Fire Camp, a collaborative effort between the California Department of Forestry and the California Department of Corrections, houses 132 minimum security inmates at a 23-acre site on Lambie Road.
In reviewing the program, the grand jury said the camp was in good condition, with the buildings and grounds described as "well groomed." The partnership helps California tax payers and the camp teaches the inmates skills that can be useful when they are released.
Not all was positive though, as the jury found a shortage of correctional officers that may affect the safety of inmates and officers both. It recommended filling the two vacant positions as soon as possible…
LINK - TheReporter.com
May 9, 2009
CDCR Youth Offender And Adult Inmate Firefighters Deployed To Jesusita Fire
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has deployed nearly 1,000 youth and adult offenders and department staff to help combat the wildfire that has burned hundreds of acres since May 5 in Santa Barbara County.
"The Conservation Camp Program helps offenders learn valuable skills, teamwork and discipline that will serve them well when they are released from prison," said CDCR's Secretary Matthew Cate. "The citizens of California benefit by having a fully trained workforce able to respond to fires, while saving more than $80 million every year that otherwise would be paid to accomplish the same tasks."
In total, 67 youthful offenders between the ages of 18 and 25 were dispatched from Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Ventura and Pine Grove Youth Conservation Center in Pine Grove. On Thursday, they cut fire lines and put out hot spots in areas that were already burned by the Jesusita Fire. The DJJ fire crews joined nearly 930 adult inmate crews and department staff already dispatched to Santa Barbara County…
LINK - ImperialValleyNews.com
November 22, 2008
Local wards, inmates help in SoCal fire fight
As fires reach the 100 percent containment stage, inmates and wards also perform clean-up activities such as clearing roads and debris long after the final flames have been extinguished.
"We don't just send our wards," Linden explained. "Camp staff goes along, six experienced men from CAL FIRE and six correctional officers to make sure the men are kept in secure circumstances, for example, when they are eating and showering."
…Inmates and wards were deployed from other Northern California centers: Sierra Conservation Center in nearby Jamestown deployed 85 crews supervised by 102 CDCR staff. The California Correctional Center deployed 55 crews supervised by 80 CDCR staff…
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com (Amador Ledger Dispatch)
April 29, 2008
Some answers given to residents about future of Paso boys school
Paso Roblans concerned about the state's plans for the next life of the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility got the change to question state officials for the first time Monday night.
The meeting, attended by about 75 people, was the first of two. A second session is today at 11 a.m. at Paso Robles City Hall.
There are three options for the site's future, which all could move forward: a 900-inmate medium security state prison; 250 inmate state re-entry facility for prisoners nearing their parole dates; and a 100-inmate fire camp…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
April 16, 2008
Inmate camp praised by county grand jury
As part of its ongoing 2007-08 report, the Solano County Grand Jury has commended the Delta Conservation Camp in Suisun for its service to the community, the state and to the prison inmates assigned there.
In the portion of its annual report released Tuesday, the Grand Jury noted that the 23-acre camp - jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - gives prison inmates serving at the camp an opportunity to serve the community while learning valuable skills that could help them secure employment after release.
Up to 132 male prison inmates are assigned to the camp, which is off Highway 12, most of them serving time for drug and alcohol offenses. Inmates convicted of violent offenses, arson or sex crimes are not chosen for the program, the grand jury report notes…
LINK - TheReporter.com
February 5, 2008
Governor’s Budget Cuts Will Hit Lassen County
District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman said a recent publication suggested the governor plans to target inmates in nine or 10 of the 30 fire camps, 18 of which are run by the California Correctional Center in Susanville. District 3 Supervisor Lloyd Keefer agreed, saying the strategy is to "pick the ones that they know are going to be more sensitive to the public response and raise a big fuss." Not only would releasing camp inmates reduce fire protection in Lassen County, Chapman said, it would also lower the amount of reimbursement the city of Susanville receives for the impact of the prison on the city budget. "Even if they took 2,000 of the 22,000 being released, that's going to have a direct financial impact on the local area," Chapman said…
NEWS - LassenNews.com
January 18, 2008
Inmate Release Proposal Could Hurt Fire Camps
Wiping out a portion of the state's lowest-paid firefighting force is one impact prison officials fear if the state releases thousands of inmates under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal. The governor has suggested letting go 22,000 non-violent and low-level prison inmates with less than 20 months left on their sentence to help offset a state budget deficit…
LINK - UnionDemocrat.com
December 7, 2007
Warden Leaves Ione Prison
Mule Creek State Prison got a new warden this week, with the promotion of Warden Richard Subia to a higher post in the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In his new job, Subia will be the associate director for general population, with oversight over Level II and III prisoners at nine prisons. He will also oversee the state's 41 fire camps and 12 community correctional facilities…
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
