Inmates Trusted Enough to Save Lives and Property in California Fires but Not For Early Release

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones "great heroes." The two firefighters were killed when their truck was engulfed by flames. Moments before the pair had valiantly shepherded nearly 60 California inmate firefighters to safety. The praise of Hall and Quinones's for their heroism didn't stop with Schwarzenegger. Nearly every other local political figure paid public homage to the men. A slew of memorials and tributes were planned to honor them.

The bare mention in news accounts of Hall and Quinones's deaths that California prisoners were also battling hard against the fires was no oversight. For years California inmates have performed valued service fighting the ritual fires that plague Southern California every year. They get only bare mention and even barer recognition of their service even though they face the same risks of injury and death as regular fire crews. And the numbers of California prisoners that brave the fire dangers aren't small.

In 2007, more than 4,000 offenders participated in the firefighting program. They comprised 200 fire crews. In addition to their firefighting duties, the inmates also play a huge role in fighting floods, search and rescue operations and earthquakes. A large number also work year round on conservation projects on public land. There's another reason that the inmates get barely a ripple of attention and no public praise for their work. The firefighting inmates are non-violent, non-serious offenders, must be free of major prison rule infractions. That makes them potentially the poster inmates for the type of inmates who Schwarzenegger proposed, a three judge federal panel ordered, and prison reformers argue can and should be eligible for early release. Their release would not jeopardize public safety or ignite a crime wave. Yet, the fact that they perform unheralded but spotless service in safeguarding lives and personal property flies squarely in the face of the lurid picture that politicians routinely paint of inmates released early. The scare story is that they will prowl the streets and commit murder and mayhem. Law enforcement officials hector and badger California legislators and officials in other states at the faintest hint of an early release plan to scrap them. They claim that there's no such thing as a non-violent, no-risk offender; that all offenders have or will commit serious crimes. They relentlessly point to the shocking and media sensational case of Lily Burk, a Los Angeles teen, killed in June and whose alleged killer was released to a halfway house. They cite his release as proof of the great danger in the early release of inmates and to torpedo the wider use of alternative sentencing.

California is the textbook example of a state that should grab at alternative methods of punishment to ease to ease its exploding inmate population. The 170,000 inmates in California prisons top the number of inmates in several European nations combined. The overwhelming majority of these inmates are jailed for non-violent or drug related offenses. Despite the grotesque overcrowding and recent bloody riots in California's Chino prison due to the overcrowding, the state's politicians continue to engage in a rancorous, prolonged, battle to skirt a federal court order to release tens of thousands of prisoners ordered.

The early release battle threatened to derail an even more rancorous and prolonged fight over how to cut California's $30 billion budget deficit. The prisoner release plan hammered out was part of the deficit cutting deal. But panicky lawmakers backpedaled and opted for a drastically watered down plan that will do little to relieve the state's bulging prison cells, and even less to hack into the estimated $1.2 billion cost savings from the original plan to release 27,000 inmates.

The irony is that some politicians worry out loud that the early release of inmates poses a dire threat to the state's ability to protect lives and property from fire devastation and other natural catastrophes. In addition, the inmates are paid a pittance of a dollar an hour and that represents a huge cost savings for cash strapped California counties. "I think it's something that people aren't even contemplating, quite frankly," said Republican Assemblyman Ted Gaines. "I'm just very angry and frustrated that we're not focusing on this." In a final irony, Gaines cited the need for the inmate firefighters in yet another last ditch dodge to block the release of any low risk inmates.

Fallen firefighters Hall and Quinones deserve all the accolades that Schwarzenegger and state officials can bestow on them for acting quickly and resolutely to save the lives of the inmate firefighters. The pity is that the inmates who for years have risked their lives to fight fires and save lives don't get the same due when it comes to trusting them back on the streets.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles at 9:30 AM Fridays