Oregon governor commutes sentences of dozens of inmates who helped battle wildfires

Western states have used inmates to fight fires for decades

Douglas White, 28, an inmate from Warner Creek Correctional Facility, working as a firefighter, looks on as he is covered in dust and sweat, while helping to mop up hotspots from the Brattain Fire, near Paisley, Oregon, US, 19 September, 2020. REUTERS/Adrees Latif (REUTERS)

Kate Brown, the governor of Oregon, has reduced the sentences for more than three dozen inmates who helped fight wildfires last year.

The governor's decision will result in 23 prisoners leaving prison on 22 July. Another 18 prisoners had a year cut off their sentences.

The prisoners who received time reductions were chosen from a group of 164 who helped fight fires and who had met conditions for early release based on good behaviour and who had a plan for housing post-release.

The governor's spokesperson, Liz Merah, told The Oregonian that the inmates “bravely fought these wildfires, alongside civilian firefighters, and helped prevent further destruction and loss of life across the state”.

In 2020, more than a million acres of land across Oregon was engulfed by wildfires, resulting in the destruction of more than 4,000 homes.

“The governor recognises that these adults in custody served our state in a time of crisis, and she believes they should be rewarded and acknowledged for their contribution to this historic firefighting response,” Ms Merah said.

Several western states have incorporated inmates into their wildfire response tactics. California has used inmates in its firefighting forces since 1946.

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom pardoned two inmate firefighters who helped fight fires in the state.

Kao Ta Saelee and Bounchan Keola, both from Laos but who came to the US as children, were pardoned for their crimes. The former committed three armed robberies, and the latter killed a person in a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Despite being pardoned, both were eligible for deportation and wound up in federal detention facilities, though they will not likely face deportation.

A week after pardoning the men, Mr Newsom announced that the state would close its facility where it trains inmate firefighters.

The move is part of Mr Newsom's plan to reduce the state's overall prison population.

In 2016, a female inmate, 22-year-old Shawna Jones, was killed by a falling boulder while fighting the Mulholland Fire in Malibu, California.

Women inmates have been fighting fires in the state since 1983.

Incarcerated people make up nearly 30 per cent of California's wildfire response crews.

The recent pardons come after critics of the inmate firefighting programmes have complained that the programmes are essentially compulsory labour, and especially dangerous labour at that.

In the book Breathing Fire, which examines Ms Jones’s life, journalist Jaime Lowe spoke with inmate firefighters, many of whom suggested the “voluntary” nature of the programme was not quite accurate.

Ms Lowe writes in the book that “most bristled at the idea that they volunteered” for the programme, noting that female volunteers hoping to escape the threat of sexual assault or other traumas in prison “might be looking for any alternative”, even “willing to risk her life”.