from K-QED.

It's been a hot, dry, summer, and fall in a really difficult fire year, as we all know.

Firefighters have been working tirelessly under these conditions, and the coronavirus pandemic has made everything harder.

It's a definite different situation here to keep COVID from happening in these fire cancer when you have so many people condensed together.

California relies on incarcerated people in the state's prisons to help fight fires, and

they do some of the most back-breaking and crucial work.

It's a controversial program, but one that firefighting officials have long relied on.

Bay curious listener Brittany Powers has been thinking about this a lot.

This summer and fall during the the fires, I think it was actually a KQED article that I read talking

about how one reason the fires have been so difficult to contain is due to

some of those inmate firefighter programs being limited because of COVID.

And so it kind of just got me thinking about it and wondering what those programs are like and

if there are opportunities for people upon release.

Brittany's question one are September voting round.

She's concerned that the state is exploiting prisoners by asking them to do a

dangerous job for low wages and that it's really hard for them to get a similar job

when they're released. Why was it a job that we felt we could trust people with

when they're getting paid very little,

but upon release, when people do have the opportunity

to be making a career, why that trust dissipates.

Today we're gonna look at the history of inmate firefighters in California,

what they do and why there may be more hope for jobs after

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