They won’t be at the front lines. Seriously, a bunch of untrained 14 year olds battling a blazing fire. Ok. Also some of them might get reduced time based off of what they were convicted of. And it says they volunteered.
Agreed. These are all inmate volunteers, whether juvenile or adult. No one is ‘making’ teenage prisoners fight the fires. Yes, the pay for the inmates is only around $2/day, which is ethically debatable. But I don’t think anybody’s being forced to fight these fires. In fact, they need all the help they can get.
I don’t know enough about fair wages for inmates to speak to it. But totally agree that there needs to be a conversation about the juvenile detention system (and whether it does more than just prepare teenagers to become adult prisoners in a few years). The guy who created this post made it seem like 58 kids were being ‘forced’ into, like, some Hunger Games of fire fighting. That wasn’t the case and got pointed out accordingly.
A hero isn’t a hero if they do it for the money. A police officer or firefighter gets a salary, they need to live, but they don’t save a life because they get a bonus, and they likely didn’t take the job to get rich. They wanted to help and that was a way to do it and pay the bills. If Superman shook people down and only saved the ones who could pay, he likely wouldn’t be known as so much a hero (that would still be an interesting comic premise though!) So you’re a felon. Who knows what you did, that just means you broke some law, not that by default you are a monster. When half the home you love is on fire, when you see people dying and losing everything they own, some people might ask “what’s in it for me to risk my neck?” And some might run towards the flames and ask questions later. I do think that they should get a reward, but after the fact. Not dangled like a carrot. I also think that many occupational restrictions on felons are silly, and thatbdetails should matter on those.
If I remember right, as long it was a non violent offence, they can be certified and they can get a job as hotshots. That second point seems off to me.
In CA, a firefighter needs an EMT certificate. A felony is considered a dangerous crime against society, anyone deemed as having committed such acts can’t gain EMT cert- EXCEPT they can. With special exception. A felon or “dangerous” person can appeal for exemption based on the details of their case, and an authorized examiner can grant them the ability to become an EMT or another restricted activity. You do need to perform extra steps, and it is subject to the discretion of the examiner, so it is not guaranteed and poses an additional challenge. Laws are now and on occasion put to vote to make the process more difficult as well. It’s a double edged sword as certain offenses which are circumstantial or trivial to trust or ability are felonies, and certain minor crimes can easily be felonies of prior history exists. But it is also important not to let certain people have access to positions or materiel they can’t be trusted with.
There's also a concersation to be had about whatever it was they did and to who that led them to earning a conviction and subesquent incarceration.