Is this right?

[ex-commish 490]

Mississippi Inmate Firefighter Dies In House Fire

JASON PATTERSON

The Bolivar Commercial

Michael Davenport was brought to Sunflower County for taking a life. This morning he died while trying to save some.

Davenport, a 40-year-old inmate serving a life sentence in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for homicide, died last night while battling a house fire off of Highway 32 in Sunflower County. He was a member of the prison's inmate volunteer fire department.

Mississippi Department of Corrections officials confirmed this morning that a call was received reporting the fire at 11:52 p.m. Wednesday and Davenport was pronounced dead at 3:26 a.m. Although few details were available by press time, Davenport is believed to have died of smoke inhalation.

Sunflower County Coroner Doug Card said Davenport died while inside the home.

"The house was a split level house and he was up on the top level," Card said. "Apparently while he was up there in all of the smoke he got disoriented and couldn't get out."

Card said the residence was approximately two miles from the gate of the prison, but he did not know who owned the home. Card said all occupants of the home were able to escape safely.

Three inmates are reported to have responded to the fire.

Inmate Gary Lambert suffered a broken leg after falling off of a ladder while fighting the fire. Lambert, 47, is serving a life sentence for homicide. He was convicted in Covington County and has been serving time since 1983. He is being treated at the Sunflower County Hospital.

Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood was in court this morning and unavailable for comment.

Forgive me for sounding cruel or harsh and maybe 20 years working around criminals has made me this way but why in the world would anyone allow a convict, especially a convicted murderer to volunteer in a fire department and fight fires off the grounds of the prison? Are there areas that hard up for fire protection that they have to rely on murderers to respond? I feel bad the inmate died ( I do have some heart) but what next?? Allow them to patrol our streets? EMS? Deliver your mail?

I feel what we do is a privelge and like any other privelge it should be taken away when you commit a crime, especially taking one's life. I mean these guys are serving life sentences. Would you want them handling a set of irons near you? How do others feel about this???

Andy Mancusi

Chief

Hawthorne FD

[BedfordFire 7]

I must admit i was very suprised to see this.. convicts...serving life for homicide...fighting fires. I personally think this combination does not mix well, all things considered. Shouldnt this be a "maxium security" deal where there are very strict rules? How on earth is a convict allowed to go off prison grounds...and how are they allowed to be fighting fires? This whole thing seems pretty absurd..and i wouldnt feel safe with them working in my neighborhood. Maybe its just me, but shovels, pike poles, chain saws and 60,000 pound pieces of apparatus with convicts serving a life sentence for murder dont match.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

I agree that it is a little sketchy that a convicted felon is fighting fires outside of the prison. However, it is possible that a policy can be instituted for people convicted of non-violent crimes or are not a danger to the community or himself. If there was a fire department on the prison walls then any inmate with a resonable prison record or convicted of non-violent crimes could be responsible for a rig and fight the fires on the prison grounds.

[Guest]

This happens alot in the south.Angola State Pen. in Louisana has the same set up.I think you would be supprised to learn that convicts do a lot more than you might think.Ever order something over the phone?A lot of compaines use convict labor to answer the phones in the prison.You give them your credit card # address name and phone #!! Still feel safe? I worked in a hotel years back and all the kitchen staff were convicts who were allowed off to work.One of them was pulling a stretch of 25 years for manslaughter! In the kitchen using big knives!!! I am not saying this is right, but a lot more common than you might think.We had a huge brush fire a few years back and the state brought in convicts to work the line and dig and clear. Crazy world we live in!

[HFD23 37]

this is rediculious, why don't we hire them as cops or investigators as well.

these inmates working in hotels and kitchens do they get paid? or does the money that they would make go toward the coast all us tax payers are paying for their prison stay.

What kind of training do you think theses guys get?

[INIT915 1,119]

After spending four weeks in Louisiana with the State Police, you would not believe what jobs are done by inmates.

It seems to work for them, as they've been doing it for many, many, many years.

[Medic137 6]

Police and EMS usually work alone or in pairs without direct supervision. Firefighters, on the other hand, always work in squads or companies supervised by a LT or Captain and under command of a Chief. Considering there was a death and a serious injury on this scene, I would be more concerned about the leadership rather than the background of the firefighters.

[ny10570 745]

this is rediculious, why don't we hire them as cops or investigators as well.

these inmates working in hotels and kitchens do they get paid? or does the money that they would make go toward the coast all us tax payers are paying for their prison stay.

What kind of training do you think theses guys get?

←

All of these prisioners get paid for the work they do. They can then spend the money in the prison or send it out to who ever. TThey do alot of work, especially in the south and mid-west. But even here in westchester the jails have furlough programs. There is also evidence to suggest that prisioners who work while incarcerated have a lower re-entry rate into the prision system.

[grumpyff 1,159]

NYC Dept Of Corrections use inmates to clean and maintain its facilities at Rodman's Neck... Home Of the NYPD Firearms and Tactics range. It is always a sight to see an inmate in a bright orange jumpsuit bring out some recruits gunbelt, or a box of ammo left in the bathroom. Definately does not seem right to let them out, even to fight fires. PS if anyone uses office equipment made by CorCraft Industries.. it is owned/run by the NYS Dept of Corrections, Craft Industries. Found out when my police station got some new furniture recently.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Don't forget there are a lot of prisoner wildfire firefighters out there too. Theis has been going on for years, but this is the first time I have heard of a vol. brigade actually responding to house fires.