Perhaps there's a moral difference here between working for CalFire and working for a private prison? California has orders of magnitude more prisoners than they need for CalFire so I cannot imagine there's any incentive there to incarcerate longer or arrest more people.

As for the pay, I'm curious on the pay idea: what the hourly cost is to try, convict, house, and feed a convicted criminal. I've been unable to find this info in a useful form for California.

I think you will not find support for your idea though as long as there are unemployed non-criminals available to work - although I get your point.