page_title: Incarceration in California
section_title: Fire camps
hierarchical_section_title: Incarceration in California / State incarceration / Fire camps
caption_attribution_description: Incarcerated firefighters spray down a hotspot at the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest in California. U.S. Forest Service photo by Mike McMillan.
context_page_description: Incarceration in California spans federal, state, county, and city governance, with approximately 200,000 people in confinement at any given time. An additional 55,000 people are on parole.
  The main government agencies and incarceration facilities involved in each jurisdiction are:
  Federal: federal prisons run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and immigrant detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
  State: state prisons, fire camps, and juvenile justice facilities, as well as a variety of community housing programs, all run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
  County: county jails, usually run by county sheriffs and sometimes run by a county-level department of corrections
  City: city jails run by the city police department
  Most people incarcerated in county and city jails are in pre-trial detention and have therefore not been convicted of a crime.
context_section_description: The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) runs 44 conservation camps (also known as fire camps) jointly with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The conservation camp program mission is to "support state, local and federal government agencies as they respond to emergencies such as fires, floods, and other natural or manmade disasters." Over 3,000 incarcerated people work at the conservation camps each year, including men, women, and juveniles. They receive the same entry-level training as CAL FIRE's seasonal firefighters.
  CAL FIRE reported 3,500 incarcerated firefighters in its 2018-2019 staffing numbers, making incarcerated firefighters approximately 27% of the total firefighting capacity of the state.
caption: Incarcerated firefighters fight the Rim Fire in California in 2013
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