“When they’re with us, they’re choosing to be better people for themselves, for their friends and family, for their community,” said Cari Chen, the forestry and fire recruitment program…
When Benjamin Fowler was serving a second 10-year prison term, he didn’t see a clear path forward to a new life after his time was up. He was in his mid-30s, with a young son, a teenage daughter and a 2023 release date. He figured he would try to get back into landscaping or become a carpenter.
Benjamin Fowler, left, wearing a bandana, with a conservation camp crew in 2020. Inmates in the Conservation Camp Program serve their sentences while working as wildland firefighters. Now a year out of prison, Fowler is graduating from a first-of-its-kind Bay Area program that helps formerly incarcerated firefighters land jobs in the industry.
Now a year out of prison, Fowler is graduating on Saturday from a first-of-its-kind Bay Area program that helps formerly incarcerated firefighters land jobs in the industry. In a few weeks, he will start a new job as a firefighter for the Forest Service in Sonoma County. Started by two formerly incarcerated firefighters in 2015 — there were some exceptions that allowed former inmates to work in the industry before AB 2147 passed — the program is a comprehensive, six-month endeavor that helps people earn the certifications they need to apply to federal and state fire jobs, provides training and supplies social workers to help them transition out of prison. The program started in Southern California and expanded to the Bay Area last year.
“When you’re in prison, you’re a number,” Fowler said. “But I was able to give back. It became a true drive.”
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