GOLETA, Calif. - Tracey Johnson wields a chain saw, tosses branches and rakes brush under the punishing sun and a heavy pack as smoke from a raging wildfire looms over the mountains nearby.

It's grueling work, but it beats staring at the four walls of a prison cell.
"You have a taste of freedom," declared Johnson, who said she's serving five years for possessing, selling and transporting cocaine. "And you get respect."


AP Photo:

FULL STORY Female inmates doing time on Calif. fire lines - Yahoo! News

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I really like this idea of utilizing prison labor. Provided it’s on a voluntary basis. In Mass here, local to where I live, I have seen a program advertised on TV for female excons re-entering the workforce. It trains them and places them into non-traditional occupations. It’s been quite successful and the ladies seem to really benefit from it. One of the women they interviewed is making more money now in her new job than she was prior to coming to prison. It really helps and takes some of the stress and worry off them to find work and go it alone immediately following release. A daunting/terrifying task...

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."