Despite voters’ rejection of a ballot measure last fall to amend the state constitution to abolish involuntary prison labor, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan of Los Angeles believes he can get two bills passed that would improve wages for individuals inside jail and prison.
“It’s an interesting moment,” said Bryan, vice chair of the Legislative Black caucus, as he spoke of the Los Angeles fires and the public recognition of hard-working incarcerated fire crews.
“I think that reopened this conversation in the consciousness for folks about what incarcerated labor can look like and how undignified not paying folks a human wage — you know, a basic wage that is dignified — what that says about all of us.”
His Assembly Bill 247 would impose $19 per hour pay for incarcerated firefighters whenever their work assignment places them in active fire incidents.
“Very few people realize they make $5 to $10 a day doing that work, and so legislation to increase those wages has received kind of resounding support,” said Bryan.
The other measure, AB 248, doesn’t necessarily have an immediate price tag, but it would remove a decades-old statewide wage cap of $2 per eight-hour shift for county jail inmate workers — many of whom have not been convicted of any crimes and are awaiting trial.
Both of Bryan’s measures build on the Black Caucus’ efforts over the past several years to tackle the state’s history of discrimination against African Americans and to implement recommendations from the California Reparations Task Force.
In the immediate post-Civil War era, California prisons exploited incarcerated laborers — mostly Black and Indigenous — under threat of punishment. The task force described current prisoner work assignments as “state-sanctioned…
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