Report: "Low-Crime Tax" Keeps For-Profit Prisons Profitable

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http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/joshua-holland/51781/report-low-crime-tax-keeps-for-profit-prisons-profitable

Report: "Low-Crime Tax" Keeps For-Profit Prisons Profitable
by Joshua Holland | September 24, 2013 - 9:57am

Compare these two tales of corruption that illustrate how the opportunity to turn a profit distorts our supposedly impartial judicial system.

In 2008, a scandal rocked Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, when the FBI charged two judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, with taking kickbacks from a private juvenile detention facility in exchange for handing down lengthy prison terms to young offenders. Robert Mericle, who had built two for-profit detention centers, and a businessman named Robert Powell paid the judges almost $3 million over a three-year period to help smooth the way for the construction of the facilities and to keep their beds full.

According to an appeals court ruling, “over the course of several years, Ciavarella committed hundreds of juveniles to detention centers co-owned by Powell, including many who were not represented by counsel.” Hundreds of young lives were ruined. Kids, including first-time offenders, were sentenced to juvenile facilities for “offenses” like mocking an assistant principal on Myspace, taking loose change from unlocked cars and trespassing in an abandoned building. In one tragic incident, a star high-school wrestler who had never been in trouble before was sentenced to months behind bars for a minor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. He missed his senior year of high-school, and became bitter and depressed. His mother would blame his suicide several years later on the corrupt judges.

“By the summer of 2008,” reads the appeals court ruling, “Ciavarella and Conahan, aware that they were under criminal investigation, met with Mericle and Powell to collaborate on their stories, discuss how to mitigate the effects of damaging witnesses, and encourage the destruction of records.” What the others didn’t know is that Powell was cooperating with authorities and wore a wire during the discussion. Judge Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. Judge Conahan got over 17 years. Robert Powell received a sentence of 18 months as a result of a plea bargain. Robert Mericle pled guilty and awaits sentencing.