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Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash
Another glowing example of our wonderful judicial system.
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juvenile detention and another four months at a youth wilderness …
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without
a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.
The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks
to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
"I've never encountered, and I don't think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids' lives were just tossed aside in
order for a couple of judges to make some money," said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is
representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA
Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court shortly afterward.
No company officials have been charged, but the investigation is still going on.
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles' records expunged.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug
paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud Thursday in federal court. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years behind
bars.
Ciavarella, 58, who presided over Luzerne County's juvenile court for 12 years, acknowledged last week in a letter to his former colleagues, "I have
disgraced my judgeship. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame." Ciavarella, though, has denied
he got kickbacks for sending youths to prison.
Conahan, 56, has remained silent about the case.
Many Pennsylvania counties contract with privately run juvenile detention centers, paying them either a fixed overall fee or a certain amount per
youth, per day.
In Luzerne County, prosecutors say, Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth
tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up.
One of the contracts — a 20-year agreement with PA Child Care worth an estimated $58 million — was later canceled by the county as exorbitant.
The judges are accused of taking payoffs between 2003 and 2006.
Robert J. Powell co-owned PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care until June. His attorney, Mark Sheppard, said his client was the victim of an
extortion scheme.
"Bob Powell never solicited a nickel from these judges and really was a victim of their demands," he said. "These judges made it very plain to Mr.
Powell that he was going to be required to pay certain monies."
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Ciavarella was ridiculously harsh and ran roughshod over youngsters' constitutional rights.
Ciavarella sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a statewide rate of one in 10.
The criminal charges confirmed the advocacy groups' worst suspicions and have called into question all the sentences he pronounced.
Hillary Transue did not have an attorney, nor was she told of her right to one, when she appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom in 2007 for building a
MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal.
Her mother, Laurene Transue, worked for 16 years in the child services department of another county and said she was certain Hillary would get a slap
on the wrist. Instead, Ciavarella sentenced her to three months; she got out after a month, with help from a lawyer.
"I felt so disgraced for a while, like, what do people think of me now?" said Hillary, now 17 and a high school senior who plans to become an English
teacher.
Laurene Transue said Ciavarella "was playing God. And not only was he doing that, he was getting money for it. He was betraying the trust put in him
to do what is best for children."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less
than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp
run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school.
He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
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upyerbum
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Fuckers. They should serve as much time as they handed out. Fuckers.
Well, its this place where nobody works, and the pigs don\'t give you any shit. Everyone smokes weed and gets drunk all day. Its a place where
cunts like me and you can truly take it easy and relax. Know what I mean?
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Discipline
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At the same time, a lot of the kids that got locked up probably deserved it.
‘Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fucking gun. Straight through your heart.’
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Siczine.com
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Discipline
At the same time, a lot of the kids that got locked up probably deserved it. |
Maybe one out of every 4 these dudes locked up. It's not like these are 18 plus kids that are out killing people, punching old ladies in the face and
committing felonies.
A kid getting caught with a bong and no weed doesn't deserve to have his life ruined. A kid that was a "lookout" for a boy that stole DVD's from
Walmart doesn't deserve to have his life ruined. Especially not so a judge can profit off it.
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Discipline
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Didn't say they all deserve to have their lives ruined, although it's a juvie record that gets sealed at 18, so saying it ruined their lives is a bit
of a stretch. A lot of them likely learned a good, hard lesson from it. Let's not forget they were in coiurt for breaking the law and were found
guilty before being sent there.
‘Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fucking gun. Straight through your heart.’
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Siczine.com
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Discipline
Didn't say they all deserve to have their lives ruined, although it's a juvie record that gets sealed at 18, so saying it ruined their lives is a bit
of a stretch. A lot of them likely learned a good, hard lesson from it. Let's not forget they were in coiurt for breaking the law and were found
guilty before being sent there. |
In the article it states that a lot of now 18 plus year olds are trying to get the record cleared as a result of this. It varies from state to state
how they handle it.
In PA it is not a case of someone turning 18 and like magic your file disappears. You have to jump through hoops to get it expunged.
So for some, it fucked up/hindered their lives.
And last time I checked you aren't found guilty of a damn thing when you are arrested. You have to be tried and convicted.
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JawnDiablo
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and in many cases, juvie or county time doesn't straighten them out, it makes them worse than when they went in.
Juvie time would in many cases prevent one from getting in a college i would think.
they may not be able to hold your juvenile record against you, but they can see it and pretty much label you a fuck up from then on out.
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Siczine.com
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| Quote: | Originally posted by juandiablo
Juvie time would in many cases prevent one from getting in a college i would think.
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It certainly does, that is unless you plan on just attending community college.
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DaveMoral
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Also, I think it's an erroneous mentality to say "they broke the law" and just leave it at that. Any system of "justice" that merely takes into
account the letter of the law without considering extenuating circumstances, compassion etc is NOT just. It makes for tyranny pretty fucking quick.
Also, it's not... IMO... just to toss a first time offender into juvie without all those other considerations. Hell, it's not always just IMO to toss
a first time offending adult into jail without wider considerations than merely the letter of the law. One night of youthful stupidity, and we all
know this can extend well beyond the age of 18, shouldn't be cause for wrecking a person's life from then on. It's the same with let's say an 18 year
old kid that has sex with his 15 or 16 year old girlfriend. That dude gets charged with statutory rape and his life is ruined because now he's a "sex
offender." To me, that's unjust and immoral.
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BDx13
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what an embarrassment.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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