Local News
Prisoner firefighters deserve respect – and a better chance at becoming professional fighters
The vast urban fires that destroyed Los Angeles’s Palisades and Altadena areas have been blazing for more than two weeks now.
Coming out of this epic disaster are, of course, stories of tragedy, but also tales of heroism. However awful these days of fire have been, however many lives and homes have been lost and residents rendered homeless, the scale of the catastrophe would have been far worse but for the extraordinary efforts of firefighting crews to contain the zones of devastation.
Thousands of local, Los Angeles-based firefighters are working around the clock on the fire-lines. They have been supported in their efforts by large numbers of fire crews from around the state and country, as well as from Mexico and Canada. They have also been joined by many California state prisoners – upwards of 1,000 according to the most recent CalFire estimates – men and women who have been trained in the state’s prisoner fire-camps, and who work the fire-lines for pennies on the dollar, performing feats every bit as dangerous and as heroic as the free-world firefighters they work alongside.
I know all too well the world of the prisoner fire-camps, having myself been through the Rainbow Camp, one of two camps in California that trains female prisoners to fight fires, while I was serving time at the California Institution for Women (CIW). Those camps, along with the more than 30 that train up male prisoners, have for decades now provided a steady stream of labor, made up of minimum custody inmates with less than eight years of their sentence to complete, to bolster the state’s often-strained firefighting infrastructure.
When I was at Rainbow, my colleagues and I trained to pass the Pulmonary Function Test (PFT), the same physical test that free-world firefighters have to pass. We had to learn how to run a mile in under six minutes, and how to do timed hikes up mountains carrying fire gear. The intent was to condition us to work in hard-to-access fire zones such as the mountains and canyons that went up in flames in LA this past week. It was hard work, but it came with a huge incentive: if I completed the training, I would get time cut off of my sentence – and since I was desperate to get back to my children, this was an opportunity I wasn’t about to turn down.
Even when I hurt my ankle during the training, after a few days of bedrest I returned to the camp, completing a modified training regimen that allowed me to progress to a position not as an active firefighter but as a cleaner. My job was to ensure that the prisoner-firefighters came back to clean showers and toilets and to generally hygienic conditions in the camp.
Those firefighters would go out to tackle the huge blazes that have repeatedly hit California over the past decade. They worked alongside Cal-Fire crews. But they earned a tiny fraction of what their free-world colleagues were earning. My memory is that my fire camp friends earned between one dollar and five dollars per day for their efforts in potentially deadly environments. That’s less than a free-world firefighter would have earned back in 1900.
These days, the pay is somewhat better, but it remains scandalously low: the CDCR pays fire-fighting inmates between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, and adds in an extra one dollar per hour when they are on an active fire-line, such as the ones in Los Angeles this week. For one of these firefighters, a full day of dangerous work will net them about what a fast-food worker in the state earns in an hour.
Moreover, until 2020, none of those prisoner firefighters could work for CalFire upon their release. They had the skills, and they had the on-the-ground experience, but the criminal justice code barred felons from being hired as firefighters. With fire departments under year-round pressure in an era of climate change-related disasters, this exclusion was an absurdity.
In September 2020, legislators in Sacramento finally woke up to this. That month, Assembly Bill 2147 passed and was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, allowing for graduates of the fire-camps to apply to have their records expunged so that they could apply to work for CalFires. It was a game-changer, one that criminal justice reformers in the state had long campaigned for. And it meant that the prisoner-firefighters could now apply their skills out in the free-world. That’s a win-win for everybody.
But there’s a catch: despite the passage of this bill, too few ex-prisoners know about it, and the expungement process remains cumbersome. In consequence, only a few hundred of these men and women have graduated the training program that would allow them to get jobs with fire departments statewide.
Given the magnitude of California’s fire-crisis, the state should be making every possible effort to bring into fire departments the thousands of trained men and women who have gone through the prisoner fire-camps in recent years. They have proven their mettle on the frontlines, and they have shown a desire to give back to the community to make up for the crimes that got them sent to prison in the first place.
Now let’s find a way to use more of them as professional firefighters.
Ingrid Archie is the national organizing director for TimeDone, the nation’s largest network of people living with old conviction records, which works to end post-conviction poverty in America.
LAS VEGAS — Rickea Jackson had the hot hand for the Sparks on Wednesday night.
Jackson scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Azura Stevens had 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Sparks scorched the nets early before holding on to beat the Las Vegas Aces, 97-89, on Wednesday at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
The Aces were without three-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson for the final 11 minutes of the game after she left with 1:17 left in the third quarter with a head injury. She was accidentally hit in the face on a drive to the basket by Sparks forward Dearica Hamby.
Jackson shot 11 for 17 from the field, including 4 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 5 at the free-throw line to top her previous best of 25 points against Dallas last season.
Hamby scored 19 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists for the Sparks (4-7). Kelsey Plum had 13 points and nine assists in her second game in Las Vegas since being traded to the Sparks in the offseason.
The Sparks shot 56.9% from the field, including a 9-for-20 showing from 3-point range and outrebounded the Aces 38-28.
Jackie Young tied her career high with 34 points and Chelsea Gray made six 3-pointers and added 28 points for Las Vegas (4-4), which has lost two straight games. Wilson was 2 for 12 from the field and 9 for 10 at the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots in 28 minutes.
Young, who added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, scored 14 straight Las Vegas points in the second quarter.
A 3-pointer by Gray pulled Las Vegas within 60-56 with 3:11 left in the third quarter, but the Sparks scored seven of the next 10 points with Jackson’s three-point play giving the Sparks a 67-59 lead with 1:12 remaining.
The Sparks led 71-65 entering the fourth quarter but opened a 14-point lead before the midway point of the period. Hamby made back-to-back shots to start a 10-2 run and Jackson’s basket finished it to give the Sparks an 86-72 lead with 5:22 left.
The Aces made a charge and used a 3-pointer from Gray and a basket by Young to move within 93-87 with 1:44 left.
Plum put the game away with two free throws with 20.1 seconds left. Plum made all nine of her free throws.
The Sparks were especially hot over the first 14 minutes, making 15 of their first 18 field goal attempts (83.3%), including 7 of 8 from 3-point range, on their way to a 39-19 lead in the second quarter. Las Vegas responded with an 11-0 run to get back in the game.
The Sparks finished with 24 assists on their 33 field goals while going 22 for 27 from the free-throw line.
The Aces shot just 37.5% from field, including 9 for 35 from behind the arc. They went 26 for 29 from the free-throw line.
The Sparks improved to 2-2 in Commissioner’s Cup play, while the Aces dropped to 1-2.
Local News
‘ICE Out of OC’: In Santa Ana, roughly 300 people protest immigration raids as National Guard watches on
Roughly 300 people gathered Wednesday evening outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana to protest the ongoing mass immigration raids in Orange County.
The peaceful protest began shortly after 6 p.m. and soon tripled in size as people from all walks of life congregated in front of a road closure, occupied by at least six members of the California National Guard on North Birch and 4th Street. Chants such as “ICE Out of OC” and “Trump Out of OC” could be heard throughout the group as people held up various creative signs and carried Mexican and American flags.
Donned in a cowboy hat, Navy veteran Jason Martinez, 28, stood in front of the National Guard with an American flag that read “I’m More American.” His parents were both deported in 2011, a few years before his military enlistment in 2015. “I still think this country can be great,” said Martinez. “There’s no borders up in heaven, there shouldn’t be (borders) here either,” he added.
Several people holding megaphones urged the crowd to “keep things peaceful” as at least 15 officers from the Irvine Police Department, dressed in riot gear, stood back around the perimeter of the protest. One person carried a Salvadorian flag while another waved a joint American-Pride flag.
For 28-year-old former Santa Ana resident David Vasquez, the protest was an opportunity to show support for the broader immigrant community.
The Corona resident carried a large cardboard poster with historic images depicting the displacement and mistreatment of Hispanic immigrants in America. “These people never got justice,” he said. Vasquez added that his mother was undocumented and had picked fruits and vegetables as an agricultural worker in the 90s, often for little to no pay. At times, he said his mother’s employers would call ICE to “chase out” the workers to avoid paying them.
“It feels like the federal government is trying to be as dramatic as possible to elicit a response from people,” said 30-year-old Kelsey Leach from Orange. “It’s important to come out and nonviolently exercise our First Amendment rights.”
The sound of engines revving and cars honking in support echoed in the background.
By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Every time the Indiana Pacers have lost a game in the last three months, they have come back to win the next one.
Even in the NBA Finals – against a huge favorite who the Pacers now have in some trouble.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 27 points off the bench, Tyrese Haliburton finished with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and the Pacers retook the lead in the NBA Finals by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 116-107, in Game 3 on Wednesday night.
“This is the kind of team that we are,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We need everybody to be ready. It’s not always going to be exactly the same guys that are stepping up with scoring and stuff like that. But this is how we’ve got to do it.”
Pascal Siakam scored 21 for Indiana, which enjoyed a whopping 49-18 edge in bench points. The Pacers, who lost Game 2 in Oklahoma City, improved to 10-0 since mid-March in the game immediately following a loss.
“So many different guys chipped in,” Haliburton said.
Jalen Williams scored 26 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 24 and Chet Holmgren had 20 for the Thunder, who led by five going into the fourth.
Game 4 is back in Indiana on Friday night.
“We had a lot of good stretches of the game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “But they had more good stretches than we did – and outplayed us over the course of 48 minutes.”
History says the Pacers are in control now; in the 41 previous NBA Finals that were tied at a game apiece, the Game 3 winner went on to hoist the trophy 33 times – an 80.5% clip.
Advantage, Pacers.
It was back-and-forth much of the way. There were 15 ties; to put that in perspective, there were 13 ties in the five-game entirety of last year’s Finals between Boston and Dallas. The last time there was a Finals game with more ties: Game 1 between Cleveland and Golden State in 2018, which was knotted 17 times and included a 51-point effort from LeBron James before the Warriors held on in overtime.
TJ McConnell finished with 10 points, five assists and five steals for Indiana; since all those stats started being charted, nobody had ever come off the bench and done all that in an NBA Finals game.
“We just had guys make plays after plays,” Haliburton said. “Our bench was amazing.”
The Thunder were 61-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter in the regular season. They’re 1-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter in this series. Indiana – at home in an NBA Finals game for the first time in 25 years, with Caitlin Clark, Reggie Miller, Oscar Robertson and many other stars in the crowd – simply owned the final 12 minutes.
Oklahoma City, often playing against full-court pressure after allowing the Pacers to score, missed nine of its final 10 shots from the floor. That ugly stretch started after a Williams floater pulled the Thunder within a point of the Pacers with 5:58 remaining.
The Thunder’s only basket down the stretch was a midrange pull-up by Gilgeous-Alexander, but that was the league MVP’s only field goal in the fourth quarter. He was held to three points on 1-of-3 shooting with no assists in the final frame.
“They were aggressive,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the Pacers’ defense. “I’m not sure how many points they had, but it felt like when they scored, we’re going against a set defense, and it’s always harder against a set defense.”
Indiana outscored OKC 32-18 in the fourth, holding the Thunder to 35% shooting with the game and control of the series on the line.
“There’s a lot of areas we can clean up,” Holmgren said. “Everybody who stepped out there can be better.”
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
Game 1, a loss on the opposition’s final shot. Game 2, an easy win. Game 3, another loss to fall behind in the series again.
This formula is not the one that would be considered optimal by the Thunder, especially in the NBA Finals. But if there is some consolation for the overall No. 1 seed in these playoffs, it’s this: the Thunder have been in this exact spot before and found a way to prevail.
That resiliency will be tested yet again.
“I thought it was an uncharacteristic night in a lot of ways for us,” Daigneault said. “We got to learn from it and then tap back into being who we are in Game 4. If we do that, I think we’ll have a much better chance to win.”
It was not very Thunder-like in Game 3. They blew a fourth quarter lead for the second time in the series and gave up 21 points off turnovers.
“We’ll watch it. It wasn’t all bad,” Daigneault said. “But we definitely have to play our style and impose our will for more of the 48 minutes if we want to come on the road and get a win.”
There are uncanny similarities between the first three games of this series and the first three games of the Western Conference semifinal matchup between Oklahoma City and Denver.
• In Game 1 of the West semifinals, Aaron Gordon hit a 3-pointer with about 3 seconds left to give the Nuggets a win in Oklahoma City. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Haliburton hit a jumper with 0.3 seconds left to give the Pacers a win in OKC.
• In Game 2 of the West semifinals, the Thunder evened things up with an easy win. In Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Thunder evened the series with an easy win.
• In Game 3 of the West semifinals, Denver – at home for the first time in that series – played from behind most of the night before fighting into overtime and eventually getting a win for a 2-1 series lead. In Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Indiana – at home for the first time in the series – trailed for much of the first half before eventually getting a win for a 2-1 series lead.
The Thunder dug their way out of that hole against the Nuggets. And now, the same task awaits – with an NBA title at stake.
“I wouldn’t say that now is the time for emotions, to be thinking about how you’re feeling, emotional this, emotional that,” Holmgren said. “You kind of have to cut that out and look at the substance of what it is. We have a great opportunity here and the great thing is we have another game coming up, Game 4.”
GUEST LIST
Clark – wearing a yellow T-shirt emblazoned with the famed “In 49 other states it’s just basketball. But this is Indiana” saying along with a finals logo – was seated with Indiana Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Natasha Howard for the game, in the same end of the court as the Pacers’ bench.
In addition to Hall of Famers Robertson and Miller, both seated near the court as well, former Pacers Mark Jackson, Dale Davis were also on hand. Former Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James and Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500, were also in the arena. Palou arrived for the game in a pace car from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was lit up in gold for the evening as a Pacers tribute.
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