California’s prison system is turning to an old-fashioned solution for a modern safety gap: paying staff to watch for fire and smoke because the alarm systems meant to do that job automatically often don’t work.
Between 2020 and 2025, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spent nearly $50 million on what’s known as “fire watch” staffing, according to state records. Over that stretch, prison employees logged roughly 270,000 hours patrolling facilities and visually scanning for signs of trouble, walking assigned routes and checking different areas during their shifts, per job postings reviewed by CalMatters.
The practice exists because most of California’s 31 prisons — including several in the Inland Empire region and across Southern California — have fire alarm systems that no longer meet code. Fixing or replacing all of them statewide would cost an estimated $1.5 billion, according to the department’s most recent annual report submitted to the state in January.
Faced with aging, malfunctioning or entirely inoperable alarm systems, the Office of the State Fire Marshal directed the corrections department to keep human fire watch coverage in place until repairs or replacements are completed. That mandate has proven costly. In a recent request to state lawmakers, corrections officials asked for $15.2 million to fund next year’s fire watch staffing alone, acknowledging that the arrangement “has come at a significant expense to the department.”
That figure represents a small slice of the department’s overall $14.6 billion budget, but the costs keep climbing. Officials told the Legislative Analyst’s Office in June that last year’s fire watch spending was on pace to hit roughly $40 million — about $25 million more than what had been budgeted.
By comparison, replacing the fire alarm system at a single prison can run anywhere from $3 million to $87 million, depending on the facility, according to estimates included in the department’s facilities master plan.
Caitlin O’Neil, a principal fiscal and policy analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office who tracks the corrections budget, said the department has traditionally assigned correctional officers to fire watch duty because the job requires keys and unrestricted access throughout the prison. Those hours are generally billed as overtime. An experienced correctional officer earns a base salary of $9,647 a month, according to a 2024 state compensation survey.
But O’Neil said the department is now testing whether a lower-cost position could handle the same responsibilities, since correctional officers are trained for far more than fire monitoring. A pilot program at Solano State Prison has reclassified fire watch duties under an “office assistant” title reporting to a correctional sergeant — a position that tops out at $4,357 a month, according to a job listing.
Royal Ramey, a formerly incarcerated firefighter who co-founded the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, said there’s no room for compromise when it comes to fire safety behind bars.
“People who are incarcerated, as well as the staff inside these facilities, deserve reliable systems and strong emergency protections that keep everyone safe,” Ramey said. “In situations involving fire emergency response, there can be no gaps in protection. But the priority must also remain protecting lives while continuing to advance permanent and reliable infrastructure solutions.”
Not everyone is convinced the current approach makes sense. Matt Cate, who served as California’s corrections secretary under Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, questioned the value of paying people to watch for a fire that, statistically, almost never happens.
“Large-scale fires in prisons are extremely rare because prisons are made of concrete and steel,” Cate said. “There’s a fire department attached to each prison and there are people throughout the prison who are there all the time. It’s staffed 24-7.”
Cate said the state’s fire-safety regulations for prisons are notably strict, which leaves the department choosing between a massive upfront investment to modernize alarm systems or continuing to request incremental funding each year to maintain compliance through staffing.
“It’s a little like deciding, do we buy the house or do we rent?” he said. “It’s ultimately the governor’s office and the Legislature who have to decide how much to invest versus how much to plug the problem through adding additional staff.”
Kristen Cowan, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo who studies how extreme weather and disasters affect prisons and jails, said she was surprised to learn that inoperable fire alarm systems are apparently permitted under current rules.
“This is baseline disaster preparedness,” Cowan said. “It’s certainly concerning to know that that technology is missing. It makes you wonder what else is missing in the facilities.”
Cowan warned that relying on human observation instead of functioning alarm technology could slow fire detection significantly, increasing the risk of injuries, deaths and long-term health problems tied to smoke exposure.
“We wouldn’t let anyone else live in a place that doesn’t have a smoke detector,” she said.
Original source: CalMatters
