Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > News Items

Jailing Kids For Cash

(1/15) > >>

SEKTO:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29142654/?GT1=43001

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.

Ursus:
[msnbc video coverage of this story link HERE.]

Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash
Judges allegedly took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juveniles in lockups


Hillary Transue, who was sentenced to a wilderness camp for building a spoof MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal in White Haven, Pa., on Friday. Transue says she did not have an attorney, nor was she informed of her right to one, when she was sentenced by Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella. Matt Rourke / AP

Associated Press
updated 8:56 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009

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.

'I have disgraced my judgeship'

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.

Allegations of extortion

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.

'I was completely destroyed'

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."


© 2009 The Associated Press.

Ursus:
As far as I have been able to make out, this is known locally as the Luzerne County Court House corruption investigation. Stuff that is now hitting the national news networks has been brewing locally for quite some time.

Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center got involved at least a year ago. They filed a request with the State Supreme Court to take jurisdiction over certain Ciavarella cases. That application got denied; I believe they plan to or have already re-filed.  

Originally, the focus was primarily on the egregious and inappropriate incarceration of so many children. Then it came to light that none of these kids had been afforded requisite legal counsel. And then somehow the Feds got involved and it was determined that quite a lot of funds had changed hands, and over several years. In addition to Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, there is also a County Court Administrator who may or may not be involved.

Facilities that the kids were sent to included PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. Also mentioned on the news video was some place called Camp Adams, and there was an entrance sign to some (probable) wilderness program depicted which reads "Youth Services Agency / ACT at Jim Thorpe."

Somehow I never knew that the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling, that children have a constitutional right to counsel, happened all the way back in 1967. Anyone else here had their rights flagrantly squashed by the Juvenile Justice machine?

--- ---

Here is a local article informing us of the indictment of Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan on federal charges back on January 26th:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

[Local news video coverage of the following story accessible from title link.]

Local news / Wilkes-Barre, PA
2 Luzerne County Judges Indicted on Federal Charges

Reported by: Andy Mehalshick
Monday, Jan 26, 2009 @09:30pm EST

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- A two year federal investigation leads to charges against two Luzerne County judges. They are charged with federal fraud and tax crimes. The Eyewitness News I-Team first told you about the investigation late last summer.

Federal investigators including the FBI, U.S. Attorney and the IRS gathered Monday at the Federal courthouse in Scranton to announce charges of fraud and conspiracy against Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella (left) and Michael Conahan (right).

It all had to do with their involvement with a privately-owned juvenile detention center in Luzerne County. U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson said, "The defendants engaged in fraud by taking millions of dollars from two unnamed persons in connection with the construction, operation and expansion of juvenile detention facilities here in Luzerne County and elsewhere."

Investigators say the judges issued court rulings that would make sure juveniles were detained even when probation officers recommended that they be released. They also issued court orders that forced the county to use the detention center exclusively. The judges admitted to the charges and will now face prison time.

"The judges have stipulated to a sentence of 87 months, just over 7 years in federal prison. The judges further agreed to resign their position as judges within 10 days. With their guilty pleas they face automatic disbarment from the practice of law and they must pay restitution as determined by the courts," added Carlson.

Federal investigators say they diverted some $2.6 million dollars into their accounts and issued court orders to make sure the Pennsylvania Child Care Center in Pittston Township benefited. They also admitted to taking kick-backs from people connected to the construction and operation of the facility.

The U.S. Attorney says the investigation is ongoing and future arrests are possible.


Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.

psy:
Throw the judges in jail for the consecutive amount of time he sentenced the sum of the kids... and throw away the key.

On a side note, i'm amazed how many seperate threads there are on this one topic... lol.  This news story is getting a lot of coverage.

Ursus:
Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella was charged on January 26, 2009. Judge Michael Conahan was also charged, either that day or shortly thereafter.

This resulted in a flurry of local news coverage the next day. Four pieces follow:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

[Local news video clip of the following story accessible from title link.]

Juvenile Law Center Wants Ciavarella's Rulings Reviewed

Reported by: Mike Trim
Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009 @10:55pm EST

PHILADELPHIA- Pennsylvania's Juvenile Law Center is trying to overturn a State Supreme Court application ruling. A few weeks ago, the court denied a request made by the law center to take charge of hundreds of judge Mark Ciavarella's rulings.

Ciavarella has been federally charged. Prosecutors say he compromised Luzerne County’s Juvenile Court system.

The Juvenile Law Center doesn't mince words when talking about Ciavarella. Legal director Marsha Levick says, "This is a judge who was elected to represent and protect the best interest of children and on the backs of children took money and sent them into detention unnecessarily."

The Juvenile Law Center says hundreds of juveniles' rights were violated by Ciavarella. In Spring 2008 it asked the State Supreme Court to take jurisdiction over certain Ciavarella cases.

The center says Ciavarella skipped necessary steps in juvenile hearings. The center hoped the court would help overturn rulings in those cases.

But on January 8th, the court declined that application. Now the Juvenile Law Center will ask the state supreme court to reconsider it's application.

Levick says in wake of federal charges against Ciavarella, there might be enough to change the court's ruling.

Kevin Williamson of Hanover Township's case is an example of one the Juvenile Law Center is appealing. The law center says Ciavarella skipped steps in his hearing last April. He was sent to a juvenile camp in Jim Thorpe for seven weeks.

Williamson is out now, but his mother says this about Ciavarella, "Maybe the shoe's on the other foot now and maybe now he'll know what it feels like, that he actually did something wrong."

If the State Supreme Court route doesn't work, the juvenile law center won't stop. Levick says the center will legally appeal somewhere else.


Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page