The tragic fires sweeping through southern California have resulted in dozens of deaths and have brought out only the best of the best to help contain the rampant flames. While many of the best include the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Fire Departments, it also includes local prisoners.

Several thousand prisoners throughout the state have volunteered for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation volunteer firefighting program, which entails prisoners taking on the role of conservation specialists. When they are providing hard physical labor such as cutting down trees, helping in the upkeep of state parks and assisting in tasks meant to protect areas from floods, these inmates only earn $2 a day. If they happen to be taking their stances on the front lines with highly trained California wildfire fighting professionals, they earn $1 an hour.

While many are reasonably terrified for the lives of California civilians caught in these wildfires the prisoners are fighting, there has been little conversation about prisoners who are putting their own lives at risk. Despite the influx of human rights protests and advocation for equality being that the year is 2018, slave labor is still very much in full force.

As previously reported by CNBC, prison firefighter advocates claim that along with saving the state millions of dollars every year in funding career firefighters, the program actually helps prisoners prepare for a career in the firefighting industry. While that is a nice intention, California law prohibits former prisoners from obtaining an EMT license – a requirement to become a firefighter in the state – such a career is actually impossible.  

The danger in permitting such a program is not that it provides much needed help to fight devastating fires throughout the state, but that it puts an already highly disadvantaged group into a disadvantaged situation that can likely cause lifelong medical issues and can even prove fatal. Being in the wake of intense fire and smoke can result in severe lung and heart complications and intense reactions in the ears, nose and throat that last for decades. Considering California Correctional Health Care Services only allocated $26,275 to the medical, dental and mental maintenance of prisoners in the entire state of California, there is hardly room for serious medical assistance if it was needed.

And of course, there is the issue of the money these prison workers earn. Even if one of these prisoners happens to be on the front lines 12 hours a day for a week, they will still have only earned $84, which is barely enough to cover getting basic needs such as deodorant, toothpaste, razors other hygiene items, and additional food. If that prisoner is a woman, much of that money will be lost to tampons or other feminine hygiene products. If the prisoner is responsible for providing for their family, which many are, that money would hardly put a dent in the family’s total income. That amount of money is negligent to the well-being of the prisoner.

Several firefighters have died within 2018 alone battling the wildfires that have taken over much of California and a few of those deaths are inmates. With the Santa Ana winds adding fuel to the fire, there is no telling how much damage the state’s slave labor system will have on the incarcerated population.

The announcement that Amazon will be opening a new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens has thousands of New Yorkers in an uproar, and it may be for good reason.

While the company has promised that the move will bring 25,000 new jobs to the city, an investigation published in February shows a different scenario. The Economic Policy Institute found that Amazon’s fulfillment centers offered no net growth in jobs overall after being built. While there are new jobs offered, the displacement caused by the development of the site itself is practically devastating to the community and makes the new jobs offered essentially negligible.

It is also essential to factor in the cost automatically associated with the state allowing Amazon to move its headquarters into Long Island City. New York officials offered the company more than $1.5 billion in tax credits and $500 million in construction funding, as well as funding for a helipad.

Residents of Long Island City and surrounding areas have already expressed concern over gentrification. LIC is a minority-majority neighborhood, with 41 percent of residents being immigrants. The cost of living in the city has most families paying more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent and 19 percent of residents living in poverty.

Despite the city’s original plans to use the headquarter location around Anable Basin for much-needed apartments, public education services and tech jobs, Amazon will occupy the four-million-square-foot area directly on the East River. They hope to double that area over the next decade, displacing more people, more jobs and more businesses within the area.  The recently upgraded Anable Basin includes 335,000-square-feet of space for creative purposes, 4,995 housing units – 25 percent of which is affordable housing – a public school, water recreation, and numerous small businesses.

Protests about the plan flared up within 24 hours of the announcement. ABC 7 reported one LIC resident saying that if Amazon wishes to make its way to her city, they need to invest back in the area’s infrastructure. She told reporters that having a new and large distribution center from a major company is going to cause a spike in rent and basic goods. Others are saying that the money spent on Amazon should be spent on fixing New York’s transportation issues, housing, schools and small businesses.

Long Island City was selected for Amazon’s new location along with National Landing in Arlington, Virginia out of 238 bids from cities last year. The exact logistics of the move to New York have not yet been announced, but Amazon expects to begin hiring people in early 2019.

She’s Fit to Lead, the online news and entertainment site I have the pleasure of copy editing for, is the best place to find motivational stories and leaders. As this past weekend was #SmallBusinessSaturday, I created a downloadable guide with Instagram Brands that we
absolutely adore.

 

The guide, which has more than 20 links to some of the best clothing and custom product lines, even includes special discount codes to use when your shopping for that special someone. So, if you run out of ideas for Christmas or Chanukah presents, check out the guide and find your new favorite InstaBrand!

Have a cool business and want to feature it on She’s Fit to Lead? Send an email to info@shesfittolead.com to find out how!