DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A visual is going viral as the wildfires are spreading fast across California State suggesting that the local Los Angeles administration is using the prisoners to fight control the wildfires. See the image being shared on X.
California is now using prisoners to fighting the fires. pic.twitter.com/1LDrIcUhPP
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) January 12, 2025
Showing several firefighters in uniforms, the claim reads: “California is now using prisoners to fighting the fires.” The caption within the image reads: “There are over 1,000 prisoners deployed to fight the wildfire in LA.”
The context being the wildfires in California, which is seasonal and not new.
FACT-CHECK
Digiteye India took it up for the implied meaning that prison inmates are being used on the frontline of fire-fighting, which is usually a state machinery or voluntary service in most of the countries.
When we checked Google for relevant news, we found that the practice is not new but was in vogue since 1915, during World War I and II when much of the work force by the Division of Forestry (now known as CAL FIRE), was depleted. See details here.
During World War II, there were 41 “interim camps,” which eventually le to the foundation for the network of camps in operation today, reveals the CDCR page. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAC), in contract with the CDCR, opened five camps in Los Angeles County in the 1980’s, which include the inmates as well, the info page said.
Further, going by the rulebook, an incarcerated person must volunteer for the Conservation (Fire) Camp Program and meet all eligibility criteria meant to protect public safety. No one is forced or involuntarily assigned to work in a fire camp. And, incarcerated people do not face disciplinary action if they choose not to serve their time in a fire camp. For more information, visit the Conservation (Fire) Camps FAQ page.
According to NPR, the practice is in vogue in other states throughout the US, including West Virginia. More details are available here. Hence, the claim is TRUE but the practice is not illegal but within the legal ambit of the State law whereby these inmates are rewarded for the work they put in.
“As of today, 939 Fire Camp firefighters have been working around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread, including 110 support staff,” California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement to NPR on Friday.
It’s “not a new practice. California has relied on incarcerated firefighters since 1915. And prison labor has been used to respond to emergencies and disasters nationwide for centuries,” said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy organization, as per the NPR page.
Claim: California is ‘now’ using prisoners to fighting the fires.
Conclusion: Misleading. The century-old practice is within the legal framework and the inmates are voluntarily deployed.
Rating: Misleading — 
