Kim Kardashian wants better pay for incarcerated firefighters

Kim Kardashian has increasingly used her fame to advocate for criminal justice reform, calling for higher wages for incarcerated firefighters in California who are battling deadly fires in Los Angeles.

As the Palisades, Eaton and other fires continue to scorch the region, the reality star turned beauty mogul praised the hundreds of inmate firefighters on the front lines of the historic blaze that has It claimed 25 lives, destroyed thousands of buildings and displaced dozens of people. Thousands of people.

Kardashian, an aspiring attorney and daughter of late O.J. Simpson defense attorney Robert Kardashian, has used her platform to highlight the incarcerated firefighter plight and advocate for higher wages.

According to the Times, inmates housed in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation account for about 30% of California's wildfire fighting force each year and earn just $26.90 for a 24-hour shift. more more than 900 of them Helped put out wildfires that ravaged Southern California last week.

The “Kardashians” star took to Instagram on Saturday to point out that there are hundreds of firefighters “risking their lives to save us” who work 24-hour shifts for “hardly any pay,” risking their lives or health in the process death, “to demonstrate that they have transformed the community and are now first responders.

“I consider them heroes,” she wrote in a post to her 358 million followers.

But the reality star lamented that firefighters are paid just $1 an hour — a wage she said has remained the same since 1984. CDC websiteInmate firefighters typically make $5.80 to $10.24 a day and can make more than $26 a day during wildfire season. They also receive an additional $1 an hour from Cal Fire when they respond to active emergencies.

“It never went up with inflation.” Kardashian lamented that the proposal was never made when the fires became more severe, killing many people. She noted that a raise proposal “was made at the last minute. Denied.”

She wrote: “I urge @cagovor (Gavin Newsom) to do what no governor has done in forty years and raise the wages of incarcerated firefighters to a level that respects those who risk their lives to save us. The human level of life and home.”

Kardashian also thanked firefighters at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Ventura Training Center for saving her neighborhood last week when the Kenneth Fire threatened her Hidden Hills home and forced the evacuation of her and her reality TV family.

“These are formerly incarcerated firefighters who are now home and want to continue serving our communities as firefighters. Thanks to the bill passed by the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, these individuals can now have their sentences reduced and their felonies removed from their firefighting records . When they get home, they can find six-figure jobs with the fire department,” she wrote.

The Anti-Recidivism Coalition is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to ending mass incarceration, Fundraiser kicks off Friday Support California prison firefighters. Sam Lewis, the coalition's executive director, said they had raised more than $40,000 as of Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, private firefighters hired by homeowners have been criticized for widening class divides during disasters. This week, a Pacific Palisades homeowner faced a cyberstorm after asking user X to help him find a private firefighter who could save his home. By the way, Kardashian and then-husband Kanye West Trusted personal firefighter In 2018, they saved $60 million worth of homes from a wildfire in the Santa Monica Mountains. Kardashian's critics are also quick to point out that despite her strong advocacy, she was also criticized for violating drought regulations in 2022, exceeding her family's allotted water budget by 232,000 gallons. (The issue resurfaced this week and was further underscored by complaints about her sister, Khloé Kardashian, when she blasted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for budget cuts while the city The fire chief blamed a lack of preparation.)

The Marshall Project and other prison reform groups have highlighted the plight of incarcerated firefighters over the past week as their working conditions alarmed some on social media and reignited debate about forced labor and involuntary servitude allowed under the California Constitution. debate and maintain the election with a ballot measure in November.

Last week, CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber called incarcerated workers a “vital” part of the state’s fire response. Firefighters often work by hand, using hand tools to clear vegetation and create fire breaks to slow the spread of wildfires, while tasks like operating fire hoses or spraying retardants are left to professional firefighters, the Times reported. However, it is common for professional and incarcerated firefighters to perform heavy manual labor and work 24-hour shifts during emergencies.

Matthew Hahn, a former incarcerated firefighter, made a series of posts about his former working conditions in what he said was an effort to combat misinformation about the state's firefighter program.

His remarks on pay were largely consistent with those of Kardashian, but he noted that incarcerated firefighters can receive extra credit for their time served and be eligible for early parole. Like Kardashian, he noted they are eligible to expunge criminal records.

“(West) Wildland Firefighting is one of the few voluntary assignments in the California prison system, and voluntary means that one will not be sent to a fire camp unless requested and/or agreed to,” he wrote.

“Incarcerated wildland firefighters who have lived in fire camps for a period of time typically receive substantial monetary parole compared to other inmates in California,” he wrote. “They eat high-quality and adequate food on standard meals…( and) they have a sense of purpose in doing something worthwhile.”

Times staff writers Keri Blakinger and Ruben Vives contributed to this report.