Sep 13, 2020 02:12 AM
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2...ts-release
INTRO: On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would make it easier for the state’s inmate firefighters to pursue a career in the field after their release. The bill clears the way for inmates who serve as firefighters to have their convictions expunged upon release, according to state assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, who sponsored the bill, and to apply for most types of state licenses — including EMT certification, which is needed for most full-time municipal jobs — without listing their prior convictions.
Previously, anyone convicted of a felony in California was barred from receiving an EMT certification for a decade after their release; those convicted of multiple felonies were potentially barred for life. Now, inmate firefighters will have a far better chance of finding work at municipal fire departments. “Signing AB 2147 into law is about giving second chances. To correct is to right a wrong; to rehabilitate is to restore,” Reyes said in a statement Friday. “Rehabilitation without strategies to ensure the formerly incarcerated have a career, is a pathway to recidivism.”
The bill is a long time in coming: California, where wildfires are a seasonal threat, has long employed inmate firefighters. According to NPR, they’ve made up more than a fifth of the state’s fire crews in recent years, and this year some 2,200 incarcerated people are facing down a historic fire season on the front lines. On the job, inmate firefighters are paid far below minimum wage — as little as $3 per day —even when actively battling a fire. It’s dangerous work: Three inmate firefighters have died since 2017 while fighting fires... (MORE - details)
INTRO: On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would make it easier for the state’s inmate firefighters to pursue a career in the field after their release. The bill clears the way for inmates who serve as firefighters to have their convictions expunged upon release, according to state assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, who sponsored the bill, and to apply for most types of state licenses — including EMT certification, which is needed for most full-time municipal jobs — without listing their prior convictions.
Previously, anyone convicted of a felony in California was barred from receiving an EMT certification for a decade after their release; those convicted of multiple felonies were potentially barred for life. Now, inmate firefighters will have a far better chance of finding work at municipal fire departments. “Signing AB 2147 into law is about giving second chances. To correct is to right a wrong; to rehabilitate is to restore,” Reyes said in a statement Friday. “Rehabilitation without strategies to ensure the formerly incarcerated have a career, is a pathway to recidivism.”
The bill is a long time in coming: California, where wildfires are a seasonal threat, has long employed inmate firefighters. According to NPR, they’ve made up more than a fifth of the state’s fire crews in recent years, and this year some 2,200 incarcerated people are facing down a historic fire season on the front lines. On the job, inmate firefighters are paid far below minimum wage — as little as $3 per day —even when actively battling a fire. It’s dangerous work: Three inmate firefighters have died since 2017 while fighting fires... (MORE - details)