By Isaiah Steinberg
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — Assemblymember Jovan Jackson was uniquely qualified to introduce a bill expanding opportunities for formerly incarcerated wildland firefighters.
That’s because Jackson, Nevada’s first formerly incarcerated state legislator, himself fought wildfires while serving time in a state prison.
“It was beneficial to me in my rehabilitation and beneficial to many other people who were incarcerated,” said Jackson, D- Las Vegas.
Jackson’s law, formally known as Assembly Bill 321, will establish a transitional housing program and a pathway to full-time state employment for inmates who served time fighting fires and performing other conservation work in Nevada’s conservation camps.
In one meeting, Jackson told legislators that the Parole Board often denied parole because inmates did not have a plan for stable housing, which he intended to address with the transitional housing program.
Across the aisle, PK O’Neill, R- Carson City, also had a personal connection to AB 321. O’Neill worked in law enforcement for four decades and his stepson started his career in the U.S. Forest Service as a wildland firefighter.
O’Neill joined forces with Jackson to sponsor the bill and shore up support among the Republican caucus. He called AB 321 “good policy” for its potential to reduce recidivism rates.
“When I first came on, it was back in the ‘70s,” O’Neill said. “(Conventional wisdom) was ‘Just keep them, don’t do anything, just hold them and then release them when their time is served.’ So I really have (seen) value in the various education programs that are offered to the offenders and inmates, and I thought this was a good program.”
Governor Joe Lombardo signed the bill into law in May after it passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously.
State Sen. John Steinbeck, R- Las Vegas, former chief of the Clark County Fire Department, said the transitional housing program will likely utilize existing facilities and will not require new construction.
Steinbeck said his department worked with incarcerated crews and had a positive experience.
“Every time that we had an interaction and worked with the prisoner groups, they did their work, and we never had any issues that were ever reported to us,” Steinbeck said.
Reduced to a small flame
The Conservation Camp Program, operated by the Nevada Department of Corrections and Division of Forestry, puts incarcerated people to work in fire suppression, seed collection, trail maintenance and more. It also equips them with the same certifications as full-time, non-incarcerated wildland firefighters, and participation can lead to shortened sentences.
“They work really hard, and they’re productive from day one,” State Forester/Firewarden Kacey KC said. “I’ve been here 23 years. I’ve known people who have crew bossed inmate crews for equally as long, and they have run some amazingly talented crews across the state. These guys and gals work very, very hard.”
At the program’s peak, around 2007, the state maintained 10 camps with about 1,200 inmates passing through each year, KC said.
If the program was once blazing, however, it’s now smoldering. Five camps, concentrated in northern Nevada, are at risk of closing as the program’s inmate population has dipped to a historic low.
Now, only four camps are staffed by incarcerated crews, and the program sees only about 250 annual participants, according to KC.
KC told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that decline won’t significantly diminish the state’s capacity to fight wildfires. In lieu of some incarcerated crews, the division is replacing dozens of formerly inmate-staffed wildland firefighting positions with full-time roles, many of which could be filled by former inmates.
The primary cause, KC said, was a wide-ranging 2019 criminal justice reform bill, Assembly Bill 236, which introduced lighter sentences for minor offenses and granted more opportunities for parole.
As a result, inmates stopped ending up in conservation camps, and those who did stayed for less time, KC said.
“When we had inmates for longer terms, they were highly productive crews. You’d see them cut fire lines, just as you’d see a Hotshot crew cut fire lines, because you had them for a long time,” KC said. “It’s definitely changed when we’re only running them on average four months, because we spend a lot of time training.”
The decreasing conservation camp population means that fewer people will receive wildfire suppression training while incarcerated. However, those who do pass through the camps will now benefit from Assembly Bill 321’s housing and job training programs.
Jackson said he hopes his bill will help make up for that decrease by filling full-time roles with former conservation camp inmates.
“They don’t have as many wildland firefighters that they had four years ago, because of the new qualifications, and I felt that this legislation could possibly help build that wildland firefighter program,” Jackson said.
As Nevada faces an increasing number of serious wildfires, KC said the inmate training isn’t going away — it’s just changing.
At the same time, Jackson’s law, which goes into effect Oct. 1 , is poised to create new training opportunities for recently released conservation camp inmates. The Forestry Division has long hired formerly incarcerated individuals to serve as wildland firefighters; that proportion may increase as the number of currently incarcerated firefighters decreases.
“We’re kind of just waiting to see where the dust settles,” KC said.
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