Kim Kardashian, who in recent years has emerged as an advocate for criminal justice reform, last week visited a camp in the mountains of Northern California where incarcerated men serve as firefighters, often deploying to the front lines of the state's largest blazes.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection posted photos of the visit and said Kardashian had visited Growlersburg Camp No. 33 in El Dorado County and met with several crews to “learn more about the program and show her support.” The camp, Cal Fire noted, is jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Cal Fire. Incarcerated people receive training to pursue careers in firefighting after their release, the post said.
Kardashian, who was accompanied by sister Kendall Jenner, posted more photos of her visit on her own Instagram account, which, with 361 million followers, attracts considerably more attention than Cal Fire’s Amador-El Dorado Facebook page. Kardashian wore a black off-the-shoulder turtleneck and black sneakers; the firefighters wore orange fire-protective jumpsuits with heavy-duty boots.
“These incredible men are incarcerated firefighters saving our state, homes and communities from fire,” he wrote, adding that the firefighters can expunge their criminal records and “rededicate themselves to firefighting” when they get out.
Several people jumped into the comments section of Kardashian's post to exclaim that they had seen members of her family in the photos.
“The one in the back in the fifth photo is my son,” wrote one woman. “Thank you for supporting those kids.”
Kardashian, who became a global celebrity thanks to her family's reality show and social media, met with Vice President Kamala Harris In 2015, Senator Clinton was at the White House for a roundtable discussion on criminal justice reform. And last week, she announced on her Instagram page that she had recently visited the Justice Department in Washington to talk about prisoners “who have taken responsibility for their crimes… and are ready to come home from our prisons to their families.”
