Victim of judge who paid kickback to send children to US prison

Two former judges in Pennsylvania, who hatched a scheme to send children to for-profit prisons in exchange for kickbacks, have been ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds of those they were victims of one of America’s worst judicial scandals. history.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Connor awarded nearly 300 people $106 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages in a long-running civil lawsuit against the judge, writing that the plaintiffs are “an epic scandal” tragic casualties”.

In what became known as the “kids-for-cash” scandal, Mark Ciavarera and another judge, Michael Conahan, closed a county-run juvenile detention center and took money from the building’s builder and co-owner illicit payments of $2.8 million. Two for-profit locks.

Ciavarella, who presides over juvenile courts, has a zero-tolerance policy that guarantees large numbers of children to be sent to PA Child Care and its sister agency, Western PA Child Care.

Ciavarella has ordered the detention of children as young as 8, many of whom are first-time offenders deemed illegal for petty theft, jaywalking, truancy, smoking on campus and other minor infractions.

Judges often order teens he finds guilty of committing crimes to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away, without giving them a chance to defend or even say goodbye to their families.

“Ciavarella and Conahan have broken their oath and breached the public’s trust,” Mr Conahan wrote in his explanation of the sentence on Tuesday.

“Their cruel and despicable behaviour harms vulnerable young people, many of whom suffer from emotional and mental health issues.”

After the scheme was discovered, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected some 4,000 juvenile convictions involving more than 2,300 children.

Adult victims are now unlikely to see a jaw-dropping fraction of the damages, but a lawyer for the plaintiffs said it was a nod to the gravity of the judge-shame crime.

“It’s a huge win,” Martha Levick, the plaintiff’s attorney, co-founder and general counsel of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, said Wednesday. “It is very important to obtain an order from the Federal Court acknowledging the gravity of what the judge has done to these children during the most critical years of their childhood and development, whether the money is paid or not.”

Sol Weiss, an attorney for the other plaintiff, said he would start an investigation into the judge’s assets, but did not believe they had the money to pay the judgment.

Ciavarella, 72, is serving a 28-year sentence in Kentucky.

His projected release date is 2035.

Conahan, 70, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison but was released to home confinement in 2020 with six years remaining due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Connor ruled last year after hearing the often emotional evidence of 282 people who appeared in Lucerne County Juvenile Court between 2003 and 2008, 79 of whom were under the age of 13 when Ciavarella sent them to detention at least 13 years old, There are also 32 parents.

“They recounted his stern and bossy nature, his disdain for due process, his unusual recklessness, and his arrogant and rude behavior in court,” Mr Connor wrote.

According to Mr Connor’s ruling, an unnamed child victim testified that Ciavarella “ruined my life” and “just didn’t get me into my future”.

Another plaintiff said: “I felt like I was being sold for no reason. It was like everyone was lining up to sell.”

Another victim described how he shivered uncontrollably during a routine traffic stop, the result of the traumatic effects of his childhood detention, and had to show his mental health records in court to tell him “Explain why I’m behaving so oddly”.

Several child victims later died of drug overdoses or suicides in the lawsuit, which began in 2009, Mr. Connor said.

To calculate damages, the judge determined that each plaintiff was entitled to a base rate of $1,000 per day for wrongful detention, and adjusted that amount on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Connor wrote that hefty punitive damages were needed because the disgraced judge had caused “unspeakable physical and emotional trauma” to children and young people.

Damages awards only cover plaintiffs who choose to participate in the process.

Other key figures in the case settled years ago, including the builder and owner of the private confinement cell and its company, paying a total of about $25 million.