Kim Kardashian, who in recent years has become an advocate for criminal justice reform, paid a visit last week to a camp in the mountains of Northern California where incarcerated men serve as firefighters, often deploying to the front lines of the state’s biggest blazes.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection posted photos of the visit, saying Kardashian had visited Growlersburg Camp No. 33 in El Dorado County and met with several crews to “learn more about the program and show support.” The camp, Cal Fire noted, is jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Cal Fire. Incarcerated people are trained to pursue careers in firefighting upon their release, the post said.
Kardashian, who was accompanied by her sister Kendall Jenner, later posted more photos of her visit on her own Instagram account, which, with 361 million followers, attracts quite a bit more attention than Cal Fire’s Amador-El Dorado Facebook page. Kardashian wore a black shoulderless 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,” she wrote, adding that the firefighters can expunge their felony records and “go into firefighting” when they get out.
Several people jumped into the comments section on Kardashian’s post to exclaim that they had spotted their family members in the photos.
“That’s my son in the back in the 5th picture,” one woman wrote. “Thank you for rooting for those boys.”
Kardashian, who became a worldwide celebrity thanks to her family’s reality show and social media, met with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House for a roundtable on criminal justice reform earlier this year. And last week, she announced on her Instagram page that she had recently visited the Department of Justice in Washington to discuss prisoners “who have taken accountability for their crimes … and are ready to come home from our prisons and be with their families.”
