The California wildfires are raging rampantly, and it’s all hands on deck to help get them under control. With firefighters being sent in from all over the state as well as Canada and Mexico, some of perhaps the most unexpected heroes in this crisis are the Californian inmates who are helping slow the blaze for at most $10.24 a day.
Prisoners are people too, and they are citizens of this country just as much as any other American. As a result, they should be compensated as such. If they are to be engaging in labor, it should be willingly, like full-time firefighters, and they should be paid at least the minimum wage.
Forced or unpaid labor is not ethical in any case, and any form of involuntary servitude should be taken out of the U.S. Constitution (in addition to the 13th Amendment) in order to fully move away from slavery in the United States. Though the inmate firefighters in California are doing so voluntarily, they are paid meagerly for such a difficult and dangerous job. This is unacceptable and unjust in accordance with federal and state minimum wages.
There are absolutely some benefits to this program, most importantly that these inmates are eligible to be employed by Cal Fire when they are out of prison. It is often extremely difficult for people to find work after being incarcerated, but this program could help break down that barrier and allow for many to have a steady job after prison. Additionally, both the skills learned and the statements of bravery and character could be helpful on resumes for incarcerated firefighters in finding jobs later.
While these benefits are great, they do not make up for the gross underpayment of these workers. While it is legal under the Thirteenth Amendment for prisoners to be underpaid or not paid at all for their labor, that is something that absolutely needs to be updated as we try to make reparations for slavery and move away from it as a country.
This issue might have been solved in California had Proposition 6 passed in the state last year. Prop. 6 intended to amend the state’s constitution to make involuntary servitude illegal as a criminal punishment and sought to remove slavery from the document as a whole. While the measure is mainly directed at the tens of thousands of California inmates being forced into various jobs for under 74 cents an hour, it is still an important step towards making all prison labor in the state more justly compensated.
Prison reform needs to become a priority in this country. Complaining about crime rates increasing and empty statements about making cities safer mean nothing until we actually put in the work to make genuine change.
For those who have not committed capital offenses or crimes punishable by spending the rest of their lives in prison, the experience of prison should be geared toward self-improvement, rehabilitation and preparation for reintegration into society. Forced work assignments interfere with rehabilitation programs, moving inmates further away from any goal of successfully returning to their lives after prison.
Programs like that of the firefighters in California could be hugely beneficial in helping reframe the way we approach incarceration, but we still need to compensate participants fairly for their work. Inmates fighting California fires now are risking their lives in an unsafe environment for the greater good of the community and the country, but are being paid a mere fraction of the worth of their labor.
The increased cost of prison labor is not a fair argument against paying these inmate firefighters the minimum wage. If the state truly cannot afford to pay them even with the support of federal aid, they should not deploy them into this incredibly dangerous environment.
If California can pass Prop 6 and the federal government follows in its footsteps and works to amend the Thirteenth Amendment, we could enter a new era of prison reform and finally move towards rehabilitation instead of endless cycles of incarceration. This would benefit millions of people and help make our communities and our country as a whole safer and more united.

Molly O’Connor, FCRH ’28, is a journalism major from Weymouth, Mass.