California Approves Minimum Wage for Incarcerated Firefighters

Heidi • July 9, 2025

New wage slated to take effect on January 1st, contingent on the Legislature passes a bill that mandates the policy

California will begin paying incarcerated firefighters the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour during active emergencies starting January 1, 2026. The change is included in the latest state budget, signed last week by Governor Gavin Newsom, which allocates $10 million for the increase.


This follows years of pressure from labor advocates and intensified scrutiny after hundreds of incarcerated workers were deployed to wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year. Current compensation ranges from $5.80 to $10.24 per day, plus $1 per hour during active emergencies, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. However, the increase will only take effect if the state Legislature passes a bill to codify the policy in law.


The bill mandating the wage increase was introduced by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D55 - Culver City). Bryan said, “It’s the right thing to do and it’s long overdue. “It feels really beautiful and life changing for folks who have sacrificed to save others during their time being held accountable for whatever harms they may have caused in their past.” Bryan initially proposed raising the rate to $19 per hour but accepted the federal minimum wage following budget negotiations. The bill has bipartisan backing from almost two dozen lawmakers, although it faces opposition from the California State Sheriffs’ Association due to concerns about costs to counties.


Bryan added, “To have a bipartisan moment where we’re dignifying incarcerated labor with a federal minimum wage – I think that is the best of who we are. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle, on this particular effort, are demonstrating what it really means to be Californian.”


Incarcerated people have supported emergency responses in California for decades through participation in fire camps. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, over 1,800 individuals currently live and work at fire camps across 25 counties. These minimum-security facilities are used to house trained workers who assist with wildfire containment and other emergencies. In addition to fires, these crews are often called upon to respond to floods and other natural disasters. The camps operate year-round and are integrated into broader state and federal emergency response efforts.


Drop LWOP Coalition member California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) has expressed strong support for the policy change. Katie Dixon, CCWP policy and campaign coordinator, said: “I feel like this is a statement of value – in saying: we value you, we honor you, we see you.”


Dixon previously served on a firefighting hand crew while incarcerated but was unable to pursue a career due to her criminal record. She said, “It felt like a dream deferred. A dream that’s been cut off due to systemic policies designed to keep people like me — Black people — out of certain professions. Deep down inside, I’m supposed to be a battalion chief.”

Figure hanging with desperation to flag lines attached to the US Flag (Owen Gent/Marshall Project)
By Heidi July 10, 2025
"What, to the American Incarcerated Person, Is Your Fourth of July?" appeared in The Marshall Project, featuring first-person essays from system-impacted people.
Doorplate for Great North Innocence Project in Minneapolis, MN (Photo: WCCO TV/CBS News Minnesota)
By Heidi July 7, 2025
Innocence Project asks supporters to urge elected representatives to robustly fund & protect Federal innocence and forensic science programs in FY26 spending bills 
an adult hand grasping a child's hand through prison bars - Photo: iStock
By Heidi July 1, 2025
In May 2025 the Incarcerated Womxn’s Clemency and Support Project (IWCSP) and Kwaneta Harris Defense Campaign hosted a webinar entitled “Mothering Behind Bars: Voices of Incarcerated Mothers in Reflection of Mother’s Day.
Aerial of Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, CA (Photo: KSBW News)
By Heidi June 27, 2025
Incarcerated people at Salinas Valley State Prison in CA declared a hunger strike, protesting alleged are unlawful practices by California Department of Corrections.
image of State of California capitol building in Sacramento next to the California state flag.
By Heidi June 26, 2025
Legislative update on SB 672, Youth Rehabilitation and Opportunity Act, (Sen. Susan Rubio) which would allow some juvenile LWOP convictions to seek parole board hearing.
Leonard Peltier, at his home on the Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota (Kerem Yücel/MPR News)
By Heidi June 25, 2025
After 50 years wrongfully imprisoned, Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier is home. MPR News sits with Peltier in one of his first longform interview since his release.
ICE agents outside a Newark NJ detention facility (Photo:  Brian Branch Price/ZUMA Press Wire)
By Heidi June 24, 2025
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is detaining an increasing number of immigrants without any criminal history, according to recent federal government data.
Join civil rights leaders to urge Gov. Newsom to commute all death sentences; rally at capital 6-26
By Heidi June 20, 2025
Clemency California invites all clemency advocates to the capital in Sacramento on Thursday, June 26th, starting at 10am, to help call on California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all California death sentences.
fingers forming heart hands from behind prison bars (Photo: Rajesh Rajput)
By Heidi June 20, 2025
The essay "Benjamin Case and the Power of Love" appears at the Prison Writers website, and is written by Benjamin Case, incarcerated in South Carolina.
graphic of a public defender in a courtroom (graphic - iStock)
By Heidi June 17, 2025
Public defenders are crucial to ensuring a fair justice system for all by providing legal representation to those who cannot afford it. After a Mississippi court ordered state legislators better fund public defenders after significant delays in providing representation, the program is set to receive funding.
Show More