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January 18, 2008
CA: Releasing prisoners who fight fires at $1 an hour will hurt fire camps
Inmate release proposal could hurt fire camps
Published: January 16, 2008
Maggie Beck/Union Democrat
By ALISHA WYMAN
The Union Democrat
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.
"Those low-level, non-violent offenders are the inmates that we place in our fire camps," said Lt. Kevin Wise, an administrative assistant at Sierra Conservation Center.
The Jamestown-area prison trains inmates that staff 19 fire camps from central California to the Mexico border. Two of those camps include the Baseline camp near the prison and another in Vallecito.
The inmates are paid $1 an hour to fight fire, do fuel management projects and help with flood control.
"In my opinion, and in the opinion of the staff, it's the most valuable program that we operate," Wise said.
Last week, Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency and introduced a proposal to address this year's $3.3 billion shortfall. He has called the Legislature to a special session to review his proposal, which includes 10 percent cuts to nearly all departments within the state's general fund.
If the inmate release is approved, it is unclear which inmates it would affect.
Sierra Conservation Center counselors would have to evaluate 1,500 low-level inmates at the prison to see if they meet a yet-undefined criteria. Those released would likely be ones incarcerated for crimes such as property offenses, narcotics and embezzlement.
It is also possible the counselors will be responsible for sorting through inmate files it trained at its 19 camps, about 22,000 prisoners, Wise said.
"We're hoping that the first ones to be released are the ones who aren't eligible to be in fire camp," he said.
Ineligible inmates include those with mental disabilities, or physical or medical issues.
Even if the inmates are taken from the mainstream population, it could still impact the prison, Wise said.
Inmate population determines staffing numbers. A reduction in inmates means a reduction in staff, he said.
This would be the most dramatic reduction in inmate population Wise can remember in his 23 years with the state department, he said. The release of such a large number of convicts could concern the public, both those with houses at risk from wildfire, and for public safety reasons.
"We're here to keep these inmates from the public as long as the courts have ordered them to be in prison," he said.
Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele said a release would send a message to would-be criminals that they can get away with a light sentence.
But the proposal is not unlike the releases 58 California Sheriff's make every day due to jail overcrowding, he said.
"There has to be a punishment for the crime, and all we're doing is re-enforcing the fact that you can do crime and not have a punishment," he said.
Posted by lois at January 18, 2008 06:14 PM