having spent time fighting fires is probably an amazing thing to have on a resume, and will probably open doors for them that were otherwise closed.
It certainly sounds good, but unfortunately many of them are not able to get careers as firefighters because the crime they were incarcerated for excludes them from getting hired. Democracy Now did a good story on it a few years ago: https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/12/a_new_form_of_slavery_meet
It looks like it may have been updated too: https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/14/california_wildfires_incarcerated_firefighters
And the tuition is a way to exclude (with few exceptions for publicity sake) “the poors” from entering. This way the capitalist elites can keep living in their bubbles and use it as a means of making connections to further their businesses