Even at 1.45 they fight and compete over slots to participate. They'd have prisoners volunteer to do it for free even. You have to realize how draining and soul destroying prison is.
By doing the fire fighting they get to leave the prison occasionally, and do something with their life that people compete to do outside the prison system. Also parts of fire fighting training is pretty cool to be honest. People want something/anything to give their life meaning and purpose, and fire fighting does that in a very prestigious way.
Ideally they'd get full wages, (at least minimum wage, sense their food and housing is taken care of) and be able to use their fire fighting certification to immediately enter the work force on release. But I believe they are barred from becoming fire fighters afterwords.
By doing the fire fighting they get to leave the prison occasionally, and do something with their life that people compete to do outside the prison system. Also parts of fire fighting training is pretty cool to be honest. People want something/anything to give their life meaning and purpose, and fire fighting does that in a very prestigious way.
Ideally they'd get full wages, (at least minimum wage, sense their food and housing is taken care of) and be able to use their fire fighting certification to immediately enter the work force on release. But I believe they are barred from becoming fire fighters afterwords.