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California drops plan to allow violent offenders on inmate firefighting team California officials admit 40% of inmate firefighters are violent offenders
(about 5 hours later)
California corrections officials dropped a plan to include prisoners with violent backgrounds in the nation’s largest and oldest inmate firefighting unit, a day after the proposal was first reported by the Associated Press. In a sharp reversal of previous claims, California corrections officials said on Wednesday that nearly 40% of the state’s inmate firefighting crew have previous convictions for violent offenses, after the department claimed for years that only non-violent inmates were admitted to the program.
The state still plans to expand the program to include inmates who have up to seven years left to serve on their sentences, instead of the current five years, department of corrections and rehabilitation spokesman Jeffrey Callison told the AP. The disclosure came two days after the Associated Press reported that the corrections department was considering expanding the criteria for inmate firefighters to include those with some violent convictions and with more time left to serve on their sentences.
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But as for considering inmates who have been convicted of violent crimes, “we will not be changing that”, he said. “We’re not looking to expand the list of crimes that inmates have committed when considering who is eligible for fire camp service.” Corrections spokesman Jeffrey Callison said the department provided inaccurate information to AP and other news outlets and on its website. He said inmates with violent backgrounds have been serving since at least the 1990s but he and other spokespeople did not know that.
Monday’s story drew nationwide attention as California endures four years of drought and a deadly fire season. Public safety concerns were raised by critics including the union representing state firefighters who oversee the inmates while they are fighting fires. The head of the union that represents state firefighters called for a full investigation.
The plan was dropped on Tuesday but Callison denied that the publicity killed it. Callison blamed the misstatements on differing definitions of what constitutes a violent background. Although the penal code includes hundreds of offenses considered to be violent, prison officials have long considered inmates to be non-violent if they have a minimum-security classification for good behavior and a significant length of time in prison without committing a violent act.
“Nothing was finalized, and even without the stories, who knows what might have emerged?” he said. Arsonists, kidnappers, sex offenders, gang affiliates and those serving life sentences for murder and other crimes have always been excluded.
The department continues to search for ways to increase the pool of potential firefighters, he said. The number has been falling in recent years because lower-level offenders are being sent to county jails instead of state prisons. Callison said a statement on the department’s website that participating inmates must have no history of violent crimes under California’s penal code “was a thoroughly misleading statement”.
Currently, about 3,800 inmates assist professional firefighters in California, but that is down from about 4,400 in previous years. “That was part of the reason I always thought there were no inmates with violent records in the fire camps,” he said. “It was inaccurate.”
The department considers only inmates with no history of violent crimes, but had proposed adding inmates convicted of violent offenses such as assaults and robberies if they had attained a minimum-security classification after years of good behavior. The disclosure shocked officials with the state’s firefighting agency and the union that represents professional firefighters who oversee inmates on the fire lines. Mike Lopez, president of the union representing state firefighters, called for a full investigation after learning of the reversal from the AP on Wednesday.
Corrections spokesman Bill Sessa had told the AP the proposal was in the final review stage within his department. It had not yet been sent to the department of forestry and fire protection, also known as Cal Fire, which said it also would have had to approve the changes. “I’m very concerned this has been going on without our knowledge and inmates with violent backgrounds have been coming in without our notice,” Lopez said.
The two agencies formed a committee this summer to consider how to keep the firefighter program adequately staffed. The committee is considering using inmates with longer sentences left to serve, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Janet Upton, but had not been asked to consider using inmates with violent backgrounds. Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the California department of forestry and fire protection, said she also was unaware that unarmed firefighters were supervising inmates with violent histories for years.
“They listened to the public sentiment, which is very well appreciated,” said Mike Lopez, president of the union representing state firefighters who oversee inmates at fire scenes. “It sounds like now they’re taking a step back and re-evaluating their process, which is a good thing.” “I just don’t understand. If that occurred, at some point there had to be some discussion and agreement way back” between the two cooperating agencies, she said.
The AP reported that even firefighters serving time for non-violent crimes have committed hundreds of assaults and batteries, along with weapons possessions, indecent exposures and other crimes in the last 10 years. Officials said the rate is much lower than in higher-security prisons. AP’s initial story on the nation’s oldest and largest inmate firefighting unit drew nationwide attention this week as California endures a deadly fire season amid four years of drought. Corrections officials on Tuesday announced that they were dropping any attempt to add to the number of violent inmates permitted to become firefighters.
The inmate firefighters are guarded by a few correctional officers while in the state’s 43 unfenced camps, but while fighting fires are overseen only by unarmed Cal Fire captains. They use hand tools to build fire breaks through terrain that is inaccessible to bulldozers, and made up about one of every five state, federal and local firefighters battling recent blazes. But some of those inmates have already been serving in the program for decades, Callison said on Wednesday. For instance, someone convicted of robbery might be allowed to participate if no one was hurt and the inmate had years of good behavior behind bars, while someone convicted of stalking might be excluded even though stalking is not defined as a violent crime under state law.
“If the risk of violence is low, then they are minimum custody inmates and they are eligible to serve in the fire camps. As prison officials go, they are considered non-violent inmates,” Callison said.
As of 30 September, he said 1,441 of the 3,732 inmate firefighters had committed a crime deemed violent under the state’s penal code, though all have been classified as minimum-security inmates. He said he is unsure why the department decided to include inmates with violent histories years ago.
The department is considering how to expand the pool of available firefighters as lower-level offenders are being sent to county jails instead of state prison.