# Inmates Could Staff Fire Stations In Georgia Town **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225 "2011-10-10T21:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/41 "2011-10-11T02:46:31Z")
The concept of prisoners guarding other prisoners has been around for _ages_. They’re called trustees. And if it helps teach convicts responsibility and at the same time also happens to save money, hey, that looks like a win-win to me. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/42 "2011-10-11T02:51:11Z")
I don’t see it as being all that different from other inmate work details. They aren’t going to put the violent gang banger types out there with axes. It’ll be the same type of guys that clean the floors at the courthouse, or serve as trustees in the jails/prisons. And it gives the guys a chance to learn a skill, turn their lives around. It’s dirty, hard, dangerous work…but there is also an element of rehabilitation to it. I’d support it, provided they were used to supplement existing firemen, not replace them. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/43 "2011-10-11T02:54:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The concept of prisoners guarding other prisoners has been around for _ages_. They’re called trustees. [Trusty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusty_system). And that practice, at least regarding the control of other inmates, has been abolished. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/44 "2011-10-11T02:56:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The concept of prisoners guarding other prisoners has been around for _ages_. They’re called trustees. (Nitpick: [trusties](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trusties). A trustee is [something different](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trustee).) ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/45 "2011-10-11T08:01:32Z")
Have you guys ever seen the show Pitbulls and Parolees? The gist of it is this woman who runs a pitbull rescue employs ex-cons to help her with the dogs and other manual labor. I think the idea of giving cons a meaningful job they can be proud of is an excellent motivator, and it can also be quite productive. Just because someone spent time in prison doesn’t mean they are useless human beings. Considering how many nonviolent drug offenders we have in prison, the pool of good applicants for something like this would be quite large. I’m sure there are other caveats to having them work as firefighters, but if everything else got ironed out I think it’s a great idea. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/46 "2011-10-11T09:56:02Z")
You know, everyone says how illegal immigrants are stealing American jobs, but the way I see it, convicts are doing exactly the same thing - except there are more of them, and they work for less. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/47 "2011-10-11T22:24:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You know, everyone says how illegal immigrants are stealing American jobs, but the way I see it, convicts are doing exactly the same thing - except there are more of them, and they work for less. I’m not sure I get your meaning here. How are convicts stealing American jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/48 "2011-10-11T22:32:12Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > I’m not sure I get your meaning here. How are convicts stealing American jobs? How are they not? Any job that is being done by a convict at a cut rate (see the quoted rates up-thread) is a job not being filled by fully-paid non-convict. Unless all of the jobs are things that would go undone, which seem unlikely. Now I guess you could point out that it’s still an _American_ job, but clearly it’s a different type of employment than one normally considers when using that term. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/49 "2011-10-11T22:47:09Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Wow… how did I not see this one first??? This would save so much money… why just a few hours ago I saw another Doper complaining about how much money prison guards make! If we replace them with volunteer inmates… > > What about wardens too? There is no limit! No one knows prisons better than prisoners, so… prisoner wardens, prisoners parole boards. And jeez, when you think about public officials end up in prison, it would be better and cheaper for society if the start there. Prisoner mayors and council members, Representatives and Senators are just around the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/50 "2011-10-11T22:51:29Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > How are they not? Any job that is being done by a convict at a cut rate (see the quoted rates up-thread) is a job not being filled by fully-paid non-convict. Unless all of the jobs are things that would go undone, which seem unlikely. > > Now I guess you could point out that it’s still an _American_ job, but clearly it’s a different type of employment than one normally considers when using that term. I must have missed that. It didn’t occur to me that convicts get paid that much less than anyone else, but I guess it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/51 "2011-10-12T00:09:35Z")
This will clearly end with a newspaper expose of a kickback scheme and the warden blowing his own brains out while his inmate bookkeeper escapes and flees to Zihuatanejo. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/52 "2011-10-12T00:21:57Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > (Nitpick: [trusties](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trusties). > > A trustee is [something different](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trustee).) I’ve seen the word “Trustys” on prisoner outfits on chain gangs. At first I thought it was poor spelling, but now I’m not so sure. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/53 "2011-10-12T00:32:55Z")
This is not a new concept. New York has had inmates working as firemen for decades. (There was a well-established fire crew at Wallkill CF when I worked there back in 1984.) They responded to local fires and marched in local parades. And while it’s not done in New York, several states use prisoners to guard other prisoners. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225/54 "2011-10-12T03:29:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The concept of prisoners guarding other prisoners has been around for _ages_. They’re called trustees. Also kapos. [QUOTE=Jenaroph] This will clearly end with a newspaper expose of a kickback scheme and the warden blowing his own brains out while his inmate bookkeeper escapes and flees to Zihuatanejo. [/QUOTE] As long as Morgan Freeman narrates, it can’t be all bad. [QUOTE=Boyo Jim] prisoners parole boards. [/QUOTE] This is going to end with people tossing salad for early release, isn’t it ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inmates-could-staff-fire-stations-in-georgia-town/599225.md?page=2)