PA Judge Who Sold Juveniles to Jails Gets 28 Years in Prison

ringoffireradio.com...

A Pennsylvania judge convicted of sending young kids to juvenile detention centers in return for cash has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, reported NPR. Good riddance to this guy.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was convicted of taking up to $1 million in bribes from developers of juvenile detention centers in the state of Pennsylvania. The disgraced judge became known for doling out harsh sentences for small, petty crimes in order to receive payment for each kid sent. The scam became known as “kids-for-cash.”

Between 2003 and 2008, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court tossed 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella because the judge violated the constitutional rights of the kids. These violations included denying the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Disgustingly, his attorneys said that all the media attention on Ciavarella was a good enough punishment.

Still have faith in the system? I don't....
I wonder how many other people have been wrongly sentenced because of corrupt judges and Law enforcement in other jurisdictions?

This is the Future of America.

www.truth-out.org...

Prision industries making everything from car parts to furniture. Virtual slavery for the inmates.

a reply to: olaru12

I totally agree with the sentence he got,but I have an issue. What about the company that was paying him? They knew they were doing wrong too. They should not just be fined for a huge sum,they too should have to face jail time as well.

I know most of those kids and this has come up many times already but that area is totally screwed. Old boy networks everywhere.

a reply to: olaru12

Meanwhile another thread mentioned how a psycho got a slap on the wrist even though he clearly abused a 2 year old girl.

A system where people with lesser crimes get punished more than those who commit horrific crimes.

a reply to: olaru12

This is awesome news. Finally a judge gets what's coming to them. Though, I believe 28 years is much too short of a sentence for abusing the justice system, let alone for abusing children. That said, I don't believe it goes far enough. Every owner of every prison that accepted a juvenile for a bribe ought to be imprisoned for just as long. Every staff member of every jail that had knowledge of this travesty should be imprisoned for just as long.

There is no doubt in my mind that this practice extends to adult prisons as well. I wish someone would go after them all and bury them.

a reply to: olaru12

( jaw just dropped ) ... didn't even here of this! I'm on the other side of the state. Yes the name rings a bell. This can't be the end. Them,they, their, there are other judges right here in sw pa associated.
I'll only elaborate because I have a nephew that was charged with bringing toe nail clippers to school.... to have spent 2 years in juevinile jail on weapons charges along with alcohal abuse ( the kid had Listerine and the jail wasn't state run. It was a private jail ) now he uses a GED to get work!
Oh yeaaaayyyyy... god bless PA and politics!

Thanks for the good news

Edit: not calling a race card.... OK! I'm very white. My nephew is mixed. ( if Obama had a kid ) his court hearing hit the expressway. I arrived 30 minutes early. The judge just signed off on the case before any family showed up. Hell my nephew was 20 mins away when the case was ruled out!

a reply to: olaru12

He better be kept in solitary, not that it matters, he will not be there very long.

a reply to: olaru12

Good,i am glad he is locked up....the problem with prisons for profit is not just an American problem it is catching on everywhere....

In fact here is Australia it seems we have a big problem...

A Report by the Sentencing Project titled International Growth Trends in Prison Privatization shows that Australia has the highest proportion of prisoners in private (corporate) run prisons in the world.

thestringer.com.au... ons-in-the-world-7189#.VekfFvmqqko

I cannot seem to make this link work ...help anyone

a reply to: olaru12

Delighted to agree and disgusted to discover this.

It is my assertion that such things are ubiquitous, not anomalous, I am not surprised in the least.

I think we agree on much more than is apparent in pedantic political discussion.

It is the ends that we all can agree upon and the means that we all dissent.

Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. will not have to do any hard time! He will be sent to one of those candy ass prisons for low risk prisoners and eventually his sentence will be commuted by another corrupt judge.

Thes jails have vollyball courts, swimming pools and other summer camp styled facilities, like Club Fed.....


www.forbes.com...
www.cnn.com...

a reply to: olaru12

Judges have to look after their own. Never know when their own neck might be on the line. Wish I were a judge. His butt would have been sent to Leavenworth to dig out sewage ditches.

originally posted by: olaru12
Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. will not have to do any hard time! He will be sent to one of those candy ass prisons for low risk prisoners and eventually his sentence will be commuted by another corrupt judge.

Thes jails have vollyball courts, swimming pools and other summer camp styled facilities.

www.cnn.com...

OK seeing how I know you're 99 to 100% right in that statement. I can say I'm 100% sure I just grounded 50% of my teeth away and now have a migraine!

But I still thank you for the info

This is my county. It's so corrupt, it's beyond belief in the modern USA. Completely unrelated to this case, I have my own legal problems in the same courthouse, and you can feel it in the air. Lock horns with these people and bad things happen. I personally have far too much experience here, and a major lawsuit is in progress.

I can't even say more at personal risk, I'm already under sanction with a number of my civil rights already violated. Being "shut up" is a focus of their retaliation.

Elected judges means politicians policing politicians.

Sorry to go off topic.

One of the co-conspirators, who owned the facility and did bribes, he literally got a slap on the wrist. To justify the light sentence, the public was reminded how how this "developer" brought jobs to the area, etc, ad nauseum.

wnep.com...

wnep.com/2014/04/25/mericle-sentenced-to-federal-prison/

Mericle paid the judges $2MM in "finer's fees"....1 year in federal prison.

a reply to: olaru12

I believe a similar thing is happening across the UK, with the intention of putting as many children as possible into care, warranted or not. Lots of cash seems to change hands during these processes.

a reply to: olaru12

I agree with a few of the posters in the concept of guilt by association. Just as responsible is guilt by omission: the administrators and profiteers that knew of the "kids for cash" scam, and did not come forth or intervene. Your souls gotta be all kindsa dark and malignant to self-justify this evil, or take part in it.

Hope the judge serves every day of his sentence reflecting on the many lives and families he ruined.

So one guy takes the fall. But I guarantee after serving only a fraction of the sentence. He will be out and walk into a prime position within that company.

Boys clubs always looks after their own.

a reply to: olaru12

This judge is why there is no place for a prison-for-profit in our justice system... we cannot serve the interests of justice when profits are the end goal:

States sign agreements with private prisons to guarantee that they will fill a certain number of beds in jail at any given point. The most common rate is 90%, though some prisons are able to snag a 100% promise from their local governments. Because of these contracts, the state is obligated to keep prisons almost full at all times or pay for the beds anyway, so the incentive is to incarcerate more people and for longer in order to fill the quota.

(from the second link you posted).

Private prisons have to go.

But as a society, we have to take a hard look at our laws, and how quick we are to throw people in jail... especially for non-violent and victimless crimes. One of our inalienable rights is freedom and liberty, not to be taken away unless we are a threat to the rights of others.

a reply to: olaru12

If those kids weren't full on criminals already, they sure are now.