Posted: 10/31/2014 7:17:44 AM EDT
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/amandachicagolewis/the-prisoners-fighting-californias-wildfires
Pretty good read. |
Lol, first thought I had was the felon who used to work for us. He also was a local volunteer FF, how they allowed that I have no idea and the assholes who worked with him kept on filling his head with ideas about getting more training so he could go full time/paid. 
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Some (many in fact) states have programs where convicts train service dogs for the handicapped.
IMHO convicts should be out working in such programs. As late as the late 50s Virginia had 50 man "stick camps" which was a field unit that was made to be tore down and moved for different road projects. They were made of wood and canvas. It was moved as worked progressed. If memory serves they moved it every 25 or so miles. |
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WAAAY TL:DR
Didn't get passed the climate change. Con Crews have been used for literally decades. Good for them. They seem to like the program. As far as saving money, who knows for sure if it saves any money with the way bureaucrats budget. It's a resource and fighting wildland fires costs money. |
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Quoted:
We have a local minimum security prison about 12 miles from town. They also have a firefighting crew. They also have a fine reputation amongst the Forest Service and BLM crews. It seems to be a great program that has really rehabilitated several members. My cousin ran over and killed a dude when he was drunk, and went to prison. Came out as a fire fighter. I think the idea of doing something that's purely helpful appeals to guys that know they fucked up real bad and are looking for a way to wrap their minds around it. You can't undo what you did, but you can totally do good things in the future. For someone looking for redemption that would be powerful. |