I was given this story and was wondering if anyone has heard anything about this? BTW, none of this surprises me. :bs:
Thursday, February 12, 2009 (SF Chronicle)
Judges accused of jailing juveniles for cash
Michael Rubinkam,Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press
(02-12) 04:00 PST 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
continuing.
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 today 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 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.
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Copyright 2009 SF Chronicle
