I Wear a Suit to Work Every Day
Shane Patton
Digital Print, 2006
Boston, Massachusetts
25016
Since the start of the devastating, historic, and ongoing fires that broke out last week in the Los Angeles area, over 7,500 firefighting and emergency personnel have been deployed to combat them. Working alongside the professional firefighters are over 1,000 incarcerated people. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)’s Conservation (Fire) Camp Program preys on the time and labor of incarcerated people who earn as little as $5-$10 per day to do dangerous and often life-threatening work.
Incarcerated workers do not have the right to refuse work, and they receive no protections against labor exploitation and abuse. They are excluded from most universally recognized workplace protections, including minimum wage, overtime pay, and the right to unionize.
In contrast to the majority of prison labor, the firefighting program is entirely volunteer-based and contingent on factors such as each person's health and convictions. However, incarcerated firefighters are “more than four times likely to get cuts, bruises, or broken bones compared to professional firefighters working the same fires…and more than eight times as likely to face injuries after inhaling smoke, ash and other debris.”
In theory, this program is supposed to provide incarcerated workers with skills to help them succeed after they have completed their sentences. In reality, a person with a felony conviction cannot obtain an EMT license until 10 years after being released from prison. Most, if not all incarcerated firefighters work side by side with state or city firefighters but are turned away from jobs they are more than qualified for.
The practice of using incarcerated people for forced labor—which descends from the enslavement of Black people—still disproportionately affects men of color. When the Thirteenth Amendment abolished race-based slavery, the criminal “justice” system was designed to replicate the oppressive structure of its predecessor through forced labor, chain gangs, and convict leasing. Today Black men make up 28% of the California prison population, while only representing 8% of the general California population. Latino men make up 46% of the prison population, but represent 38% of the general California population. This past November, a proposition to ban forced prison labor was brought to the ballots in California, but the measure was rejected.
Every wildfire season in California, our state is protected by firefighters, both free and incarcerated. Every year we hope more people become aware and outraged that forced prison labor saves home and produces goods we take for granted. Every year we must fight for human rights to be established for all people.
Statement about the Poster: When CSPG began working on “Prison Nation: Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex,” several graphic design classes from colleges and universities across the country took this on as a class project and submitted their posters for consideration. This poster was designed by Shane Patton, then a student of Chaz Maviyane-Davies at Massachusetts College of Art, 2006.
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References
More than 7,500 firefighting, emergency personnel deployed to fight unprecedented Los Angeles fires | CA.gov
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