|
|
| Restructuring of prisons cuts inmate fire crews |
| By mydesert.com - Denise Goolsby |
| Published: 08/21/2012 |
|
WARNER SPRINGS, CA — Herlinda Romo adjusted her orange bandana, pulled her goggled helmet onto her head, loaded up her 40-plus pound backpack, and headed out for another round of cutting, digging and clearing brush to stop the advance of the Buck Fire. “We're doing back-breaking labor,” the 33-year-old said. “It feels good. It's a sense of accomplishment.” Romo, born and raised in Coachella, is one of 120 female prisoners who'd been at the California Institution for Women in Corona. But through good behavior, tests and training, they earned the opportunity to leave the confines to live and work at the Puerta La Cruz Conservation Camp #14 in Warner Springs as part of an inmate wildland firefighting crew. The camp, one of only three female wildland firefighting camps in the country, is part of a state program started in 1946 that now employs nearly 4,000 male and female offenders in 200 fire crews. It saves California taxpayers more than $80 million annually on average, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which runs the program with Cal Fire. But a new law to reduce the number of inmates in the state's prisons is pushing nonviolent criminals out of the system — precisely the pool of inmates the fire crew program draws from. Read More. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Have you been hurt in an accident in Waco Temple or Killeen? Our personal injury lawyers will review your claim to examine if there is enough evidence to support a lawsuit. You may be eligible to file a personal injury claim if you were involved in an accident that was caused by the negligence of someone else. Our burn injury lawyer work with personal injury experts to understand how the accident has changed your life and what money you need to go forward.
He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. His antics were known from town to town as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. Hamilton Lindley with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.