SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California’s new corrections chief is backing off a plan to lower standards for inmate firefighters, focusing instead on persuading county sheriffs to send more jail prisoners to the state program.
Scott Kernan, who took over last month as secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he expects California will have enough inmate firefighters for this year’s fire season despite a dwindling pool of candidates from state prisons.
The state is using more inmates with violent or serious criminal histories because recent laws have sent less serious offenders to county jails instead of state prisons, he said. Kernan hopes to use more of those local prisoners to fill the gap.
He’s dropping, at least for now, a proposal by former secretary Jeffrey Beard that would have let inmates participate if they have up to seven years to serve on their sentences, an increase from the current five-year limit. Kernan said an analysis showed that changing the limit wouldn’t have produced a significant increase in the number of qualified inmates.
Officials previously said they expected to ease the standard ahead of this year’s fire season, but controversy erupted in October after Beard sought to expand the number of inmates who could qualify despite having violent histories. Officials first denied, then acknowledged that they have long used inmates with violent pasts in the nation’s largest and oldest inmate firefighter program. Beard quickly withdrew his proposal.