Prison inmates used as cheap labor to fight California fires

Editor's note: William Jones, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is the former Washington bureau chief for EIR News Service and a non-resident fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The disastrous fires that broke out in the Los Angeles area, destroying large sections of the city, including the million-dollar homes of famous celebrities from Hollywood, have created a shock effect in the nation, and the inability to bring everything under control was not due to lack of courageous efforts by the fire fighters and the concerned citizens who helped in fighting the fire, but rather to the disastrous conditions of U.S. infrastructure. The estimated costs of the fire are now reckoned to be between $50 and $150 billion. While the casualties are still low, the ultimate figure has yet to be calculated.

While the immediate effect of the news has led to some rather unseemly political bickering about the policies that were put into place by the Democratic leadership of the city and the state, the outbreak of such a devastating tragedy should not have come as a great surprise.

In many respects, the city of Los Angeles and the surrounding counties was simply dry kindling waiting for a match and the numerous fires that have occurred in California over the last few years should have been a wake-up call to the more densely populated regions of southern California.

As the fire spread, propelled by the powerful Santa Ana winds, it was clear that there had been no preparation by city authorities to deal with a blaze of this size. One water reservoir was under repair and had therefore been emptied. Even though the other reservoirs were full due to inordinate rains in 2023-24, it was insufficient to deal with the rapidly spreading fire. More significantly has been the failure to reinvest in the century-old water system in the region or to institute new measures which would have prevented such a catastrophe from ever happening.

During the course of the firefighting, over 900 inmates at California prisons were deployed to fight the fires. This is not an unusual measure. Deploying inmates in firefighting is done on a voluntary basis and the prisoners are paid a very minimal sum, in a venture that could well threaten their lives.

In California, 30 percent of the firefighter force are in fact incarcerated inmates. The chief figure in one of the more popular shows on American television, Fire Country, is an incarcerated inmate. Many of the inmates are even happy to volunteer since this gives them an opportunity to leave their confined prison cells.

Legally, one of the reasons that the state can pay incarcerated firefighters around a dollar an hour for this dangerous work is that under the California constitution, involuntary servitude is still permitted as punishment for a crime. Indeed, it is even permitted by the U.S. Constitution.

Using prisoners as a cheap labor force is not confined to California. Prison labor in the United States is said to generate over $2 billion in goods and provide services at a value of over $9 billion. Nearly two-thirds of prisoners work, and their jobs include manufacturing goods, providing services, working in maintenance roles and working outside for private companies.

Prison labor is linked to the supply chains of many major U.S. companies like Walmart, Costco, Target, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill. Incarcerated prisoners are at the mercy of their employers with no control over their work assignments, no minimum wage and no safety guarantees.

This, of course, shows the totally hypocrisy of U.S. accusations against China when they say that China is using "prison labor" in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Punitive measures and economic sanctions have been taken against companies in Xinjiang on the basis of these accusations.

In a document released by the U.S. Department of State, it says that "governments should protect and serve their citizens – not terrorize and subjugate them for profit. Around the world, governments, companies and consumers committed to eliminating human trafficking from global supply chains can all play a role in demanding an end to the use of forced labor in Xinjiang and beyond." That "beyond" should well include most of the states of the U.S. While the state of Colorado has banned the use of prison labor, few of the others have given it much thought. If that were the case, then measures should also be taken against the state of California. But then again, the U.S. has never shied away from using double standards for political effect.

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