California Now Says Violent Inmates Have Long Fought Fires

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - In a sharp reversal of previous claims, California corrections officials said Wednesday that nearly 40 percent of the state's inmate firefighting crew have previous convictions for violent offenses, after the department claimed for years that only nonviolent inmates were admitted to the program.

The disclosure came two days after The Associated Press reported that the corrections department was considering expanding the criteria for inmate firefighters to include those with some violent convictions and with more time left to serve on their sentences.

Corrections spokesman Jeffrey Callison said the department provided inaccurate information to AP and other news outlets and on its website. He said inmates with violent backgrounds have been serving since at least the 1990s but he and other spokespeople did not know that.

The head of the union that represents state firefighters called for a full investigation.

Callison blamed the misstatements on differing definitions of what constitutes a violent background. Although the penal code includes hundreds of offenses considered to be violent, prison officials have long considered inmates to be nonviolent if they have a minimum-security classification for good behavior and a significant length of time in prison without committing a violent act.

Arsonists, kidnappers, sex offenders, gang affiliates and those serving life sentences for murder and other crimes have always been excluded.

Callison said a statement on the department's website that participating inmates must have no history of violent crimes under California's penal code "was a thoroughly misleading statement."

"That was part of the reason I always thought there were no inmates with violent records in the fire camps," he said. "It was inaccurate."

The disclosure shocked officials with the state's firefighting agency and the union that represents professional firefighters who oversee inmates on the fire lines. Mike Lopez, president of the union representing state firefighters, called for a full investigation after learning of the reversal from the AP Wednesday.

"I'm very concerned this has been going on without our knowledge and inmates with violent backgrounds have been coming in without our notice," Lopez said.

Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said she also was unaware that unarmed firefighters were supervising inmates with violent histories for years.

"I just don't understand. If that occurred, at some point there had to be some discussion and agreement way back" between the two cooperating agencies, she said.

AP's initial story on the nation's oldest and largest inmate firefighting unit drew nationwide attention this week as California endures a deadly fire season amid four years of drought. Corrections officials on Tuesday announced that they were dropping any attempt to add to the number of violent inmates permitted to become firefighters.

But some of those inmates have already been serving in the program for decades, Callison said Wednesday. For instance, someone convicted of robbery might be allowed to participate if no one was hurt and the inmate had years of good behavior behind bars, while someone convicted of stalking might be excluded even though stalking is not defined as a violent crime under state law.

"If the risk of violence is low, then they are minimum custody inmates and they are eligible to serve in the fire camps. As prison officials go, they are considered non-violent inmates," Callison said.

As of Sept. 30, he said 1,441 of the 3,732 inmate firefighters had committed a crime deemed violent under the state's penal code, though all have been classified as minimum-security inmates. He said he is unsure why the department decided to include inmates with violent histories years ago.

The department is considering how to expand the pool of available firefighters as lower-level offenders are being sent to county jails instead of state prison.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.