Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

[defendandprotect]

Any question that the rise of the right brings with it total corruption of government? ...


Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM and MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writers Michael Rubinkam And Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writers – 47 mins ago AP – Kurt Kruger, who spent three days in juvenile detention and another four months at a youth wilderness … WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – 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.

"I've never encountered, and I don't think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids' lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money," said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.

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.

The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles' records expunged.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks

[radfringe]

1. also being discussed in LBN

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

[Horse with no Name]

2. Unreal.

But it is a microcosm of what is happening across the country--no doubt.:(

[Uben]

3. Prison for life, no parole.

Lock the motherfucker up for the rest of his life in solitary confinement. Bread and water...nothing else.

[earth mom]

4. More proof that corruption is rampant in this country.

:grr:

[Matariki]

5. Goddammit! PRIVATIZED PRISONS NEED TO BE OUTLAWED.

Isn't it obvious how fucked up the very idea of privately run prisons is? How blatantly obvious what can go wrong?

[EOTE]

6. You'd think that would be simple common sense.

But common sense is increasingly uncommon nowadays.

[PA Democrat]

7. Those kids were denied legal representation and were

jailed for ridiculously MINOR offenses. One girls was sentenced because her My Space page "lampooned" her school principal.