Jailing Kids for Cash

[Joanne98]

by Amy Goodman

As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding. Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States.

Take the story of Jamie Quinn. When she was 14 years old, she was imprisoned for almost a year. Jamie, now 18, described the incident that led to her incarceration:

"I got into an argument with one of my friends. And all that happened was just a basic fight. She slapped me in the face, and I did the same thing back. There no marks, no witnesses, nothing. It was just her word against my word."

Jamie was placed in one of the two controversial facilities, PA Child Care, then bounced around to several other locations. The 11-month imprisonment had a devastating impact on her. She told me: "People looked at me different when I came out, thought I was a bad person, because I was gone for so long. My family started splitting up ... because I was away and got locked up. I'm still struggling in school, because the schooling system in facilities like these places just horrible."

She began cutting herself, blaming medication that she was forced to take: "I was never depressed, I was never put on meds before. I went there, and they just started putting meds on me, and I didn't even know what they were. They said if I didn't take them, I wasn't following my program." She was hospitalized three times.

Jamie Quinn is just one of thousands that these two corrupt judges locked up. The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center got involved when Hillary Transue was sent away for three months for posting a Web site parodying the assistant principal at her school. Hillary clearly marked the Web page as a joke. The assistant principal didn't find it funny, apparently, and Hillary faced the notoriously harsh Judge Ciavarella.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/18-10

And this is just one more thing that is ALL the Republican's fault. They started supporting the free-market prison system. Corrections Corporation of America was started in Newt Gingrich's district in Georgia. It went up 400% in it's first year. Now we see why!

[LeighAnn]

1. K&R

A good read about a disgraceful topic

[Raineyb]

2. Amy Goodman aired a story about this on Democracy Now! yesterday

It is absolutely appalling. This is what happens when we privatize our prisons (and allow them to use the inmates as cheap labor.) Admittedly the latter part of the statement probably isn't apt as this case was in regard to juveniles but I think that is the obvious conclusion to take it to for the adult prison population.

Regards

[Elidor]

3. And the judges only got seven years for this

The sentence is an outrage. Those two should be facing 20 years at least. In fact, if you considered each case as a separate crime, they'd be doing life. But their buddies on the bench got their backs.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Put them in the GP and tell everyone what they did for a living

and they might get what they really deserve.

[Joanne98]

6. Good idea. But unfortunately most prisoners are so nice they will probably

just ask for some help on their court cases.

[gristy]

5. I heard this on DN yesterday morning

Amazing

[lostnfound]

7. K&R

[Seldona]

8. Crimes against humanity.

These guys should be buried in the cells, so they can NEVER get out. The true cost of this will never be known. Locking kids up and drugging them for a slap fight or a parody website? FUBAR.

It isn't just the judges. The cops, prosecutors, etc, should all be fired and held accountable. It was a conspiracy imo. We are so far beyond sick...

[sarcasmo]

9. Prison Industrial Complex always knows how to make money. Throw these Greedy Judges in jail.