‘An important reminder’: There are ‘400’ prison inmates among the firefighters risking their lives in LA and they’re being paid peanuts

Because 2025 wasn’t done preemptively squashing our hopes that this year would prove an improvement over the last, Los Angeles is now being ravaged by the most destructive fire in the County’s history. The harrowing images we see on TV appear straight out of an apocalyptic movie, but nothing can compare to the nightmarish lived experience of those who are directly affected.

When monumental disasters such as this happen, one can tend to get stuck between frustration and hope. Frustration with all the structural and leadership lapses and negligence that have contributed to the situation being more devastating and out-of-hand than organized and controlled – such as the severe shortage of LAFD personnel aggravated by a 2024 budget cut of $17.5 million. And hope that there are good and brave people willing to put on their good samaritan boots even at the potential detriment of themselves.

But, to expand on the topic of systemic governance issues: LA County (like other counties) heavily depends on the employment of the cheapest form of labor when it comes to the risky business of fighting raging wildfires. What is the cheapest form of labor one can legally employ? That’s right, the labor of a vast group of people whose societal dehumanization makes it so this comparably slave-like practice remains largely unquestioned from an ethical standpoint: prison inmates.

“Crime doesn’t pay” taken to a dystopian level

Dividing people into overly strict, reductive, and dichotomized categories, namely “good” and “bad,” is too often a fallacy — a human tendency to create cognitive schemas in order to aid one’s navigation in an ever complex world. Prison inmates often get the “bad” label stamped on them, which then fosters the perception that they are people with deservedly fewer rights. And, as a result of the insidious influences of a deeply entrenched but broken capitalist system, their low social status is systemically taken advantage of for profit.  

As expressed by the former inmate in the TikTok above – and corroborated by The Guardian – 30% of those actively fighting the LA fires are inmates, who earn “between $5.80 and $10.24 a day and an additional $1 per hour when responding to active emergencies.” According to the outlet, this amounts to about 400 people — an increase from the 11.65 percent reported by John Oliver in a 2019 episode on “Prison Labor.” If you want a more comprehensive purview on how inmates are treated as less than human beings worthy of basic dignity, this episode illustrates it quite well.

It is worrisome that not much has changed since the aforementioned Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode, except for the increased overreliance on extremely low-paying prisoners’ labor.

What thankfully has not changed, however, is how rewarding this work can be for inmates due to its humanitarian nature: helping others in what could surely be one of the worst moments of their lives. This can be a way for inmates (people who, in many cases, may have taken up crime after being repeatedly beaten down by life) to realize that they can do something meaningful with the rest of their years. Uncovering this motivation can be unbelievably significant for rehabilitation and the lowering of recidivism rates – which are astonishingly high in the U.S.

Nevertheless, the work’s fulfilling nature does not mean they should be paid next to nothing for it. I understand the argument against giving inmates the “privilege” of a minimum wage, but at least give them enough that it reasonably does not make one feel like one’s life is worthless in the eyes of society. A wage that allows them to afford basic necessities – yes, they may have to pay for things like body wash, female hygiene products, or even speaking to one’s family.

I’ll leave you to ponder on this “important reminder” with a netizen comment on @hahnscratch‘s TikTok video: “My husband was an inmate on a fire crew as well and that’s what encouraged him to do better in life, and now he’s on an engine on Los Padres national Forest working for the US for service.”