Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

[NOW tense]

Source: AP

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. February 11, 2009, 02:21 pm ET · 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.


Snip


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.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100587066

[ck4829]

1. K&R

[snooper2]

2. Mother Fuckers!

"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."


If I was one of those teenagers fucked over I would be waiting for them to get out... :grr:

[No Elephants]

56. Maybe some of those teens are in prison now, waiting for these turds.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Let's see some jail time for those judges

And let's tell their fellow inmates what they did for a living.

[Fridays Child]

68. Anything less than extensive jail time would be a miscarriage of justice.

[MinneapolisMatt]

4. I'm having a hard-time...

...not jumping to conclusions about those judges political affiliations...

[11 Bravo]

7. Speaking of hard time ... these bastards need to do a stretch.

[radfringe]

12. this is PA

doesn't matter what affiliation... everything here is done with a wink and a nod

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. I grew up in Schuylkill County,

and one of my childhood buddies was a boy named Paul, whose little cousin Michael used to hang out with us during those long, listless summers. Michael was a nice kid. His parents were always really nice to us when they dropped him off and came to pick him up.

When I got my driver's license, I naturally got busted by a Statie for running a red light in W. Hazleton just a few days later. I was terrified, knowing how pissed my parents were going to be. So I went to Paul's dad, and asked him if Michael's father, who was Mayor of W. Hazleton, could help me.

(People who grow up in PA learn at a tender age how things work.)

I gave the ticket to Paul's father, and I never heard another word.

This is horrible. The Conahans were a really first-rate family. Damn.

[kentauros]

66. And people around here rag on Texas for the same antics!

At least y'all understand subterfuge. I don't think our politicians would be able to pronounce it much less spell it :P

[redirish28]

5. This is why my wife has no faith or turst in the justice system or cops.

[Sequoia]

9. She's not alone.

[defendandprotect]

49. I agree . . .

[radfringe]

6. yeah... news broke here couple of weeks ago

local lawyers are already scrambling for people to come forward. from the sounds of local blather - this is more than just judges involved with the scam.

IF enough digging is done, this goes up and down the food chain.

[moggie]

8. I would think so

My first thought was "how could they get away with this for years, if it was just them?"

[radfringe]

11. we also lost another judge a month or so ago

for abuse of office - used court house employees for personal purposes and a few other charges...

This is PA - it's not unusual for a county employee to switch party affiliation depending on who is in charge. many employees have been fired for not switching party affiliation fast enough.

example: Repubs take over county government, employees switch to repub, those that don't are fired. When the Dems take over, employees switch to Dem, those that don't are fired.

common knowledge -the great "open secret"

[mopinko]

48. ya know i think everybody thinks their state is the most corrupt.

this here shit is human nature, and goes on everywhere that i ever heard of.
just sayin'

[BR_Parkway]

10. What in the hell did this one young woman do that was illegal?

"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 can't even imagine what she would have been charged with and the whole mess is just sick. We need to shut all the private prison systems down - one more time that privatization of gov't functions fails

[pnwmom]

44. I know. That one killed me, too. n/t

[Politicalboi]

13. These judges need to spend

A lot of time in jail and get their asses sued for millions.

[frylock]

38. they should spend a lot of time in prison getting their asses kicked..

if there is any justice, and i have my doubts there are anymore, these cretins will be put in with gen pop and learn all about prison justice.

[kestrel91316]

14. Republicans, right?

[radfringe]

15. Local Papers

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=&q=PA+judges

are the TIMES-LEADER and CITIZENS VOICE

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Citizens Voice story about it.

Thousands on behalf of juveniles who faced Ciavarella may join class-action suit

http://www.citizensvoice.com/articles/2009/02/09/news/wb_voice.20090209.t.pg6.cv09cdjudgeslawsuits_s1.2288821_top5.txt

[pasto76]

16. wondering who ran the detention centers

geo-group?

[pnwmom]

18. All profit making jails/prisons should be shut down. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

22. +1

[WriteDown]

24. Or judges need to stop taking bribes...

just saying. :)

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Considering the phrase

"Judges need to stop taking bribes" first appears etched into cuniform tablets, I think ending for profit dententions is the correct way to procede.

[WriteDown]

29. Money always finds a way into a judges pockets if he is

open to taking bribes. Kind of like saying if there was no alcohol, there would be no alcoholics.

[No Elephants]

59. And the problem with sober alcoholics is? If prisons are public, there is an economic

disincentive to send hordes of people to prison for little to no reason. Let's at least keep judges to the historic ways of getting bribed instead of increasing the incentives.

[No Elephants]

57. Excellent point. Some things just should not be privatized. Juvenile dtention is one.

[pnwmom]

43. That's not enough. As long as we have profit making prisons, there will be

pressures to justify the cost by keeping the number of prisoners up. And there will be attempts to increase profits on the backs of the prisoners.

It's a despicable system whether or not the judges are corrupt.

[WriteDown]

47. Not arguing against that and you have a good point....

My only argument is that I hope state prisons are not like state mental hospitals.

[radfringe]

19. BOTH DEMS

Ciavarella's judicial campaign nearly ended in the May 1995 primary.

All four candidates — Ciavarella, and attorneys Joseph Yeager, Tom Cometa and Joseph Giovannini Jr. — ran as Democrats with cross endorsements from the Republican Party. Yeager won the Republican nomination and Ciavarella edged Giovannini by 378 votes (18,759 to 18,381) for the Democratic nod.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/01/27/news/doc497eea0ed4929978915141.txt

--------------------------------

Conahan accused Democratic Party leaders of attempting to "strong arm" him out of the race, suggested he acquiesce to Musto and wait until 1995 to run for the seat that was being vacated by the retiring Judge Gifford S. Cappellini — a position that eventually went to Ciavarella.

Conahan charged "back-room politics" and "collusion" led to Casey's appointment of Musto and requested attorney Joseph A. Quinn resign from the Trial Court Nominating Commission, the panel that had recommended candidates for the Luzerne County vacancy. Quinn could not be impartial, Conahan said, because he hosted a party for Musto and solicited campaign contributions on his behalf.

Conahan announced his candidacy at the Ramada Hotel in Wilkes-Barre on Feb. 27, 1993, pledging to refuse contributions from attorneys or their spouses, so he could be a judge "with no strings attached."

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/01/27/news/doc497eea6415f88653841483.txt

[No Elephants]

61. The Republicans "cross endorsed" Ciaveralla and the Dems tried to "strong arm" Conahan out of the

race? since when do Republicans "cross endorse" a Democratic candidate for state judge?

[AndyTiedye]

20. Maybe These Judges Will Meet Some of the People They Sentenced

I am sure they will get a WARM welcome when they arrive in the Pen.

[Doremus]

21. Wow, will the corruption never stop. We need a trojan cleaner for government.

Either that or throw out the hard disk and start all over again.

[BanzaiBonnie]

23. And that's what's wrong with privatization

[WriteDown]

26. Or could be what's wrong with accepting bribes.....

Haha.

[tom_paine]

25. Both are Democrats, I am sorry to say. We are crazy if we think the Bushies have a monopoly on

corruption.

We should never lose sight of that.

Whatever Party these assholes are from, they should get their asses handed to them at sentencing for this horrific and long-term abuse of the pubic trust.

http://www.timesleader.com/news/hottopics/judges/Judge_Musto___lsquo_Sad__vindicated_rsquo__01-26-2009.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

51. no, they are not Democrats - they are merely assholes claiming

Democratic affiliation.

Just as there are people in red states who are "republicans" because that's where the local power structure is, there are people in blue states who are "democrats" because that's where their local power structure is. It has everything to do with power, and nothing to do with principle.

We really should have a way of disavowing people like this, who act in ways that are fundamentally at odds with the principles of the party.

[tom_paine]

52. Very good point. The bottom line remains, however, they were in our party.

Much as I am ashamed to say.

[radfringe]

27. ..........MORE..........

Prothonotary silent on investigation
Published: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:16 AM EST
http://www.citizensvoice.com/articles/2009/02/10/news/wb_voice.20090210.t.pg14.cv10cdcountymatters_s1.2292810_loc.txt

The political future of Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill A. Moran is a hot topic at the courthouse these days.

Her term as prothonotary expires this year, and she has said she hasn’t decided whether to run for a third term. The prothonotary is in charge of the office that files civil court records, and 2009 election candidates have started picking up nominating petitions to get on the May primary election ballot.

In recent weeks, Moran hasn’t responded to questions about the federal investigation at the courthouse or about speculation she is going to resign.

Suspended Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and decertified Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan plan to plead guilty this Thursday to charges they took $2.6 million in kickbacks from two individuals tied to Pennsylvania Child Care LLC, a company whose juvenile detention centers earned nearly $30 million from county contracts.

----------------

Juvenile Center overcharged county, draft audit says
By Dave Janoski
Projects Editor
Published: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 2:12 PM EST
http://www.citizensvoice.com/articles/2009/02/11/news/doc499311e549267531172884.txt

Luzerne County paid Western PA Child Care, one of two juvenile detention center companies at the heart of the county corruption probe in Luzerne County, more than $73,000 for beds that were unused from July 2007 through June 2008, a draft audit from the state Department of Public Welfare says.

The company also had more than $1.2 million in unallowable costs including management and rental fees to companies connected to local attorney Robert J. Powell, a former co-owner of the Western Pa. Child Care Center in Butler County.

Another firm linked to Powell paid some of the $2.6 million in kickbacks allegedly accepted by county Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., according to federal prosecutors. The two judges are expected to plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy Thursday. They’re accused of helping Western PA Child Care and a related firm attain nearly $30 million in county contracts.

The draft audit also questions $3,500 in custom clothes purchased for former Hazleton mayor Michael Marsicano, who was a partner with Powell in a group that wanted to develop a cargo airport near the borders of Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. Other expenses the auditors said should be disallowed including payments for limousine service to a college basketball, golf outings and deep-sea fishing outings.

[cosmicone]

30. Is anyone going to arrest and jail the executives who PAID the bribes

as well?

[radfringe]

31. Allegations of extortion

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.


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.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29142654/

[cosmicone]

32. Just because someone asks for a bribe

doesn't mean one has to give it.

[radfringe]

34. here's the thing

judges were bribed to send kids to these centers ot to keep them in the detention centers.

the centers received money for each bed that was occupied.

I don't buy the extortion thing either.

[radfringe]

35. SEE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3734166&mesg_id=3734354

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. Oh my god!

:cry:
The kickback money should be used to give these kids monetary compensation. They should all receive college educations tuition-free.

[NorthernSpy]

37. Prisons are built with stones of law...

Brothels with the bricks of religion.


-- William Blake

[depakid]

39. Part and parcel to America's obsession with punishment

While a majority of Americans doesn't support corruption- the certainly DO SUPPORT draconian penalties for juveniles- and you see that support right here on this board.

One of the silver linings of America's well deserved economic collapse- and the failure of the Democrats to respond to it effectively is that people are going to have to re-think these sorts of deals and figure out what their priorities are.

Prisons are expensive- money thrown away that could have been invested in education.

[NM Independent]

40. Seize their assets to pay damages to those kids.

That is FUCKED UP!!

Prisons for profit has to end.

[TK421]

41. They need some jail time....now, because this whole story stinks to high heaven

state tax revenue, in itself should cover a great part of this interment...but I digress...

what has PA paid out in the past...I don't know, eight years?

http://www.eredux.com/states/state_gov.php?id=1116

BTW..this is the first result I got searching that gave actual numbers

[Shallah Kali]

42. Western PA Child Care owned by Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp 'Inspiring Brighter Futures'

http://www.midatlanticyouth.com/facilities/western.shtml

I wonder who owns Miid-Atlantic Youth Services

[KamaAina]

45. Today's Worst. People. In The World!!

:grr: :banghead:

[BadGimp]

46. I can not even summon words to describe how bad this makes me feel

Extraordinary Rendition would be appropriate in this case imo.

Waterboard the fuck out of these people.

[Ian David]

50. Who appointed these judges? n/t

[Lost in CT]

53. Life in Prison for the both of them

An forfeiture of their ill-gotten assets.

[FiveGoodMen]

54. And, as I said in another thread, tell their fellow inmates what they did for a living

[No Elephants]

58. No life in prison for either of them. Read the article.

[Lost in CT]

63. Yeah I saw that seven years.

Disgusting.

[Posteritatis]

55. What would happen to the sentences still being served because of this? Anything? (nt)

[Phillycat]

60. Oh my GOD.

This is just SO WRONG. Oh my god!

[No Elephants]

62. How do you sentence a kid who is not represented by a lawyer to juvie anyway? And the

state Supreme Court backed them up? Shameful.

These two did not act alone.

"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."

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

64. if we could only find a way to do this with republicans....

[Blue_Tires]

65. Judges in Federal Court Plead Guilty

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- Former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan made a quick entrance into the William J. Nealon Federal Building in Scranton this morning around 9:45. They arrived for their preliminary hearing set for 1:00 P.M. Not long long after both former Judges plead guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod is the lead prosecutor in the federal corruption case. Under a plea agreement, the two judges would serve more than 7-years in prison on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud.

Eyewitness News I-Team reporters Andy Mehalshick and Joe Holden were the only local TV reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse as the two arrived. The judges had nothing to say as they headed inside to begin the process of pleading guilty to corruption related charges.

Meanwhile new details on the scandal emerged Wednesday. The draft of a proposed state audit has surfaced on one of the two detention centers in the middle of Luzerne County's corruption scandal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29161567/

[JPZenger]

67. Here's much more about this scandal

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=175x14997