VACAVILLE, Calif. — They charge into fire zones with 60-pound packs and three-foot chain saws, felling trees and hacking through brush to make wide paths of dirt around anything worth protecting. Bright orange uniforms set them apart from other firefighters — and identify them as inmates of California’s state prisons. “But we took special pride in being able to actually save people’s homes,” Mr. Martin said. This past week, though, Mr. Martin and hundreds of other inmate firefighters were absent from the fire lines. They had already gone home, part of an early release program initiated by Gov.

Source: New York Times August 22, 2020 18:56 UTC