California Prisons Spend Millions on In‑House Fire Watch as State Bill Helps Former Incarcerated Firefighters Find Jobs

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has spent almost $50 million from 2020 to 2025 on prison staff to patrol facilities for smoke and fire after many of its 31 prisons were found to have defective fire‑alarm systems. Replacing the alarms could cost up to $1.5 billion, so officials continue to fund human fire‑watch crews, with a recent budget request seeking $15.2 million for the next year and the department reporting a $40 million fire‑watch expense for last year, about $25 million over budget.

Separately, state legislators are advancing Assembly Bill 2483, which would create an official certification for inmates who receive firefighter training in prison fire‑camp programs and grant hiring preference with Cal Fire for those applying to Fire Fighter 1 positions. The bill aims to smooth the transition to civilian firefighting careers for formerly incarcerated individuals, a group that contributed nearly half of the state’s wildfire‑season response hours.

The proposals reflect California’s effort to address both immediate fire‑safety needs in its prisons and longer‑term workforce reintegration for incarcerated firefighters.