Judge Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison for "Selling" Kids to Private Prisons

Accused of perpetrating a “profound evil,” former Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for illegally accepting money from a juvenile-prison developer while he spent years incarcerating thousands of young people.

Prosecutors said Ciavarella sent juveniles to jail as part of a “kids for cash” scheme involving Robert Mericle, builder of the PA and Western PA Child Care juvenile detention centers. The ex-judge was convicted in February of 12 counts that included racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion.

In addition to his prison sentence, Ciavarella was ordered to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution.

At his sentencing, Ciavarella acknowledged his illegal acceptance of money from Mericle. But he denied ever jailing a juvenile in exchange for money.

Once the case against Ciavarella surfaced, special investigative panels began reviewing cases he handled from 2003 to 2008. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that he denied about 5,000 juveniles, some as young as ten, their constitutional rights, leading to the vacating of their convictions.

Among the young people exploited by Ciavarella were 15-year-old Hillary Transue, who was sentenced to three months at a juvenile detention center for mocking an assistant principal on a MySpace page; and 13-year-old Shane Bly, who was sent to a boot camp for two weekends after being accused of trespassing in a vacant building.

Another judge, Michael T. Conahan, used his position to shut down the county-run juvenile detention center and redirect juvenile detainees to the private prisons. He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy.

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/judge-sentenced-to-28-years-in-prison-for-selling-kids-to-private-prisons?news=843116

Don't you just love free market prisons?

Libertarian paradise

NoTroll999 topic.

And this isn't free market. It's crony capitalism, the left's bread and butter.

Sandbag can't decide whether the left comprises command-economy socialists or collusive crony capitalists, probably because neither is the case.

XD, next.

He just Sandbagg'd himself.

XD Next

NoName999 posted...

Among the young people exploited by Ciavarella were 15-year-old Hillary Transue, who was sentenced to three months at a juvenile detention center for mocking an assistant principal on a MySpace page

Um, what? How did it take this long for this to be overturned?

This board has really become a cesspool and a wasteland, because of people like the first two posters. If you want to turn something into a political football, at least don't come in brimming full of extreme sarcasm every single time. Even Hannity doesn't do that, and being lower than Hannity is pretty bad. The phrase "libertarian paradise" is only witty or clever in a very tiny amount of situations, not every time there's something like this.

Anywho, surprised this article doesn't mention the guy who committed suicide after being imprisoned for having weed paraphernalia on him, whose mother confronted the judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8JRMGP2hg8

Not that I think that the fact that someone committed should have any bearing on what happens, but it was a fairly remarkable incident, media fodder and on first impressions it seems he did even less than the other people listed.

At his sentencing, Ciavarella acknowledged his illegal acceptance of money from Mericle. But he denied ever jailing a juvenile in exchange for money.

I bet he thought he could get out of it because of some technical reasons. Unfortunately, a lot of the time that sort of thing works... they would pretend it was for something else and nobody could prove otherwise, see Monsanto's "generous" donations for example.

From: fudrick | #006

NoName999 posted...

Among the young people exploited by Ciavarella were 15-year-old Hillary Transue, who was sentenced to three months at a juvenile detention center for mocking an assistant principal on a MySpace page

Um, what? How did it take this long for this to be overturned?

Longer than three months.

Yeah, if a judge wants to take money from private prisons, he should do it in the open during an election campaign, as God intended!

Note: I still can't believe most states have judicial elections.
Talk about inviting corruption...