Impact of Public Safety Realignment on Rural Firefighting San Diego County Needs Continued Service by Inmate

California Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 (AB109) brought significant change to the sentencing, processing, and detention assignment for court- ordered incarceration of convicted felons.

An unintended consequence of AB109 implementation is that over time a lower number of State prison inmates will be eligible for assignment to fire camps as volunteer firefighters. Fact: Inmate firefighters are used for wildland fire prevention, fire suppression, fire control, and other important back country firefighting efforts. Fact: CALFire leadership has stated that inmate firefighters are especially critical within the wildland areas of San Diego County. Fact: California now operates 42 fire camps with four camps located in San Diego County. Fact: In 2011 there were 4,400 State prison inmates assigned to fire camps. Fact: The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that within the next several years the State prison population will include only 2,200 inmates who would qualify to volunteer for firefighting. Fact: As currently implemented, AB109 allows counties to either house low-risk inmates in their detention facilities or place them on probation.

If sufficient inmate firefighters cannot be drawn from the State prison population they could be drawn from eligible County inmate population.

Given the fire danger inherent in San Diego County wildlands, the fire camps within San Diego County should be kept open. Fact: County public safety leadership has the responsibility to incorporate the many changes in established processes and procedures brought by AB109. Fact: AB109 has only been in effect a year and implementation processes are still evolving. In addition, there are initiatives being considered to address several issues that are unclear or ill-defined relative to AB109 implementation. Fact: There are unresolved issues concerning the utilization of County inmates for firefighting assignment due to additional cost and loss of manpower for other duties. 6

There are clear and competing priorities for assignment of County inmates to fire camps over the next several years that must be thoughtfully resolved.

There is a compelling requirement that the services of trained inmate firefighters be ready and available, especially during the wildfire season. The valuable support provided by these inmate volunteers of essential firefighting services should be a top priority. Fact: CDCR is currently responsible for assignment of State inmates as well as providing detention housing, food, and housekeeping services necessary to maintain inmates at fire camps. Fact: Under current AB109 implementation guidance, the Sheriff must reimburse CDCR approximately $46 per inmate per day to house County inmates at fire camps. Fact: The Sheriff is responsible for providing medical services and associated transportation for County inmates. Fact: The current average cost of housing inmates in County detention facilities is approximately $160 per inmate per day, although firefighter-eligible inmates may often require less medical services and cost considerably less. Fact: Even if some County inmates are housed in fire camps, the Sheriff still has the high overhead to support continuing operation of County detention facilities.

The $46 per day per inmate cost for those inmates housed in fire camps will increase future operational budgets of County detention facilities.

There are additional costs incurred by the Sheriff in connection with providing of medical services and associated transportation for County inmates housed in fire camps.

A compelling argument can be made that the State should subsidize counties for the detainment costs of those County inmates assigned to fire camps including necessary medical support services.