Fire prevention and suppression: county inmate fire crews.

Existing law declares the existence of the California Conservation Camp program which establishes camps for the purpose of receiving prisoners and wards committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, to perform fire prevention, fire control, and other work. Existing law authorizes the various agencies concerned with conservation projects to enter into contracts as may be necessary for these purposes. This bill would authorize the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into contracts with those counties in which the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection currently operates inmate fire camps to establish county inmate fire crews that would utilize county jail inmates for the purposes of fire prevention and suppression. The bill would require that county jail inmates remain under the constructive custody and control of their respective county correctional facilities, or an agreed-upon multicounty correctional facility, while participating in the inmate fire crew. The bill would authorize work performed by inmate fire crews to be coordinated with the efforts of conservation camps, provided that the county would remain solely responsible for providing health and medical care to each county inmate participating in the fire crew. The bill would state that its provisions are severable.