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Disgraced Pa. judges behind 'kids-for-cash' scandal ordered to pay victims more than $200 million
(Caption: Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella, center, and Michael Conahan, far left, leave the William J. Nealon Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Scranton in 2009, after pleading guilty to corruption charges. (Pamela Suchy/Times Tribune via AP)
(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/08/17/kids-for-cash-scandal-pennsylvania-judges-ordered-to-pay-victims-mark-ciavarella-michael-conahan-luzerne-county/stories/202208170093
Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds who fell victim to their crimes.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit against the two Luzerne County judges, writing that the plaintiffs are “the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions.”
In what came to be known as the “kids-for-cash” scandal, Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and accepted $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of kids would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.
He ordered children as young as 8 to detention, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. And he often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families.
“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” Judge Conner wrote Tuesday in his explanation of the judgment. “Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions after the scheme was uncovered in the late 2000s.
Ciavarella is serving a 28-year prison sentence. Conahan, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, was released to home confinement in 2020 — with six years left on his sentence — because of the pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit against the two Luzerne County judges, writing that the plaintiffs are “the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions.”
In what came to be known as the “kids-for-cash” scandal, Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and accepted $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of kids would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.
He ordered children as young as 8 to detention, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. And he often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families.
“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” Judge Conner wrote Tuesday in his explanation of the judgment. “Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions after the scheme was uncovered in the late 2000s.
Ciavarella is serving a 28-year prison sentence. Conahan, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, was released to home confinement in 2020 — with six years left on his sentence — because of the pandemic.
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