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THREAD: As wildfires continue to threaten lives and land across the West Coast, many of firefighters on the front lines are inmates working for less than $2/day. They now have a path to record expungement, but some say that’s not enough. – @mayanyani https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
1/ Michael T. Gebre has been fighting California wildfires for the last 36 days, with very few breaks, as the River Fire and Carmel Fire burned thousands of acres throughout Monterey County. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
2/ Gebre officially became a firefighter in June, but he had been fighting fires as an inmate firefighter long before he joined the ranks of the @CALFIREBEU. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
3/ While he was incarcerated, Gebre decided to join the prison’s firefighting program, which required numerous mental health checks and tough training. He entered the program at 23 and helped fight numerous fires in California for just $1.90 a day. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
4/ “It definitely was tough because it's super hard work. It taught me work ethic. Once I got a taste of my first fire season, I was like, ‘I wonder how this would feel if I was free, if I was an actual firefighter instead.’” – Michael T. Gebre https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
5/ When Gebre was released early in 2020, he was recommended for the fire academy. But he wasn’t sure it was possible without an EMT certification, which is required for firefighter positions, because a clean criminal record is required to obtain it. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
6/ That changed earlier this month when legislators passed a bill that allows inmate firefighters to have their records expunged upon release. Some experts say this is long overdue and only part of what’s necessary for criminal justice reform. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
7/ “What they’re volunteering to do is very dangerous. What better proof of rehabilitation is there than being willing to put their lives on the line for people they’ve never met?” – @AsmReyes47, to @sdut https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
8/ For law professor @michelebgoodwin, the new law is a step in the right direction, but the actual issue is with the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
9/ “Because of the way in which the 13th Amendment was ratified with this punishment clause, it provided incentives in southern states that had held vigorously onto slavery and then later into other states that had been ambivalent about it…” https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
10/ “…Now there was a perverse incentive because if there were people who were convicted, now you could make those people do all sorts of labor.” – @michelebgoodwin https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
11/ “You have a system of Black and brown people upholding this system, receiving virtually no wages, doing things like putting out fires. When they leave, they are disenfranchised. This is the lingering lesson for us of human slavery.” – @michelebgoodwin https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
For @mayanyani’s full story: Inmate Firefighters Now Have Path to Record Expungement. Some Say the Focus Should Be on the 13th Amendment. https://ietv.co/2S1XASN
