Inmate Firefighters

[MMiz]

About a week ago I was watching a show on MTV that was a documentary of Inmate Firefighters. They'd literally unchain these guys, take them out for training with chainsaws, and then have them back in the bunk by dark. During the taping an inmate tried to break into an officers care, was chained back up, and taken back to the normal prison.

Then I read about a Mississippi Inmate Firefighter Dies In House Fire and see that:

Davenport, a 40-year-old inmate serving a life sentence in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for homicide, died last night while battling a house fire off of Highway 32 in Sunflower County. He was a member of the prison's inmate volunteer fire department.

What's going on here? Should homicide inmates be working as firefighters while in jail? I'm all for rehabilitation, but i'm not sure this is the right career field. These jobs are all about trust. Would you trust an inmate?

 

[fm_emt]

Wow, he was involved in a house fire? :O

Out here, inmates that behave can get into programs with the California Department of Forestry (CDF) to fight forest fires.

 

[natrab]

Soledad Prison here in south Monterey County has a Correctional Training Facility. They manage their stretch of highway (101) and I've run with them several times on major MVAs. They're very nice guys and I've never had a problem with them.

 

[Stevo]

yup, there was an article a while ago about using inmates to get at all that shale oil (in our midwest).

Bettween our crumblimg infastructure and esculating natural disasters, it's only a matter of time before we tap that growing numbers of incarcerees here.

~S~

 

[Jon]

I don't have any problem with a prison volunteer fire department.... many times, the inmates are looking for better treatment and the chance to prove they are rehabilitated.

 

[TTLWHKR]

They use low-risk inmates to fight forest fires in PA, as a part of the work program with the B of F. Due to a lack of college educated rangers and staff, there is quite a lapse in personnel. But if they can find low-risk inmates with suitable education, or backgrounds; they are great for felling tracts, constructing trails and safe structures. Normally, the work of trail hand and building small huts or picnic pavillions to protect hikers from lightning and rain would be done by volunteers. But due to a lack of those, the state inmates do the work, and they do a hell of a fine job too!

Their primary job in the fire sense is to go in and kill (ha ha), hot spots. They don't get chain saws or axes, or pulaski tools.. But we do offer Mcleods, brush rakes and shovels. If you are familiar with these forestry tools, you will know they are just as deadly as an axe. The Mcleod tool and Brush Rakes are sharpened like razor blades to cut roots and small trees while clearing the fire line. The others get a portable water tank, either made of vinyl coated canvas or galvanized steel.. aka "The D.B. Smith Indian Tank". On the inventory list, it had that written as the title of the product. Someone in supply is anal retentive.

Anyhoo. When you can't drive to the fire, and believe me, before someone on a state salary will walk, we will try to drive. We had forest-green chevy pick ups, with a high chassis, known as a stump jumper... Well, they didn't jump s*it! The damn axels broke every chance they got... So we had these back packs. It was like an army. There are six teams. Each team has two companies, of four squads... Following me? Eight Squads. Company 1: Squad 1: 2 Guards - 1 WEMT - 1 Logistics guy - 1 radio guy - 1 map guy - 1 drinking water guy - 1 backfire flare guy - 1 chainsaw fuel guy.

Squad 2: 2 Guards - 1 radio guy - 1 fuel guy - 6 Chain saw guys

Squad 3: 2 Guards - 1 radio guy - 1 stretcher guy - 6 Rake guys - 6 shovel guys

Squad 4: 2 guards - 1 radio guy - 1 drinking water guy - 6 Mcleod guys - 6 Indian Tank guys

Company 2 Squad 1: 1 Guard - 1 Logistics - 1 Flight Guy (to guide in the water bomber aircraft) - 1 driver - They came in on an ATV that carried tents for a command post.

Squad 2: Medical team

Squad 3: Supply team

Squad 4: Canteen team

Team 2 (my team-no inmates)Sq 1: Logistics - Flight - Maps - Radio - WEMT (me) - 6 guys with back packs full of 1" hose, 2 guys with portable 15lb pumps to establish 2 hand lines from a stream or pond, and then 4 fuel guys. Every Squad in Team 2 was set up this way. We had to keep fires away from the pillars of the Viaduct that ran through the park, other wise it was feared that it would collapse. They didn't want the inmates there if it did... But it was okay if we were. :glare: :unsure: Later on, a goverment man said "That bridge won't collapse in a hundred years"..... Two months later, it collapsed when an F2 Tornado came through the park.

Before:

And after...

And the rest are set up according to what ever else needs to be done. Most of the people are rangers, the rest are inmates, who had the same training. Except for the fact that they wear the same yellow suits with "Work Inmate" on the back, they are really no different than us. They do get paid, but the money either goes to charity or their family (which ever they choose). Never once had a problem, except one guy was bit by a snake... Of course he survived.. I couldn't tell what kind it was b/c he crushed it's head, but I doubt it was venomous. At first we thought it was an escape attempt, but he screamed like a little girl, and ran for the crew leaders... who never once touched a tool, and just stood there looking at maps.. as if we were lost in the wilderness... two hundred yards from the trucks...


I'm babbling.. I get like this when I'm sick. Making sure my brain doesn't fry.

 

[Stevo]

neat story

get well there Wacker

~S~

 

[TTLWHKR]

It's all gravy.