
Judge to serve 28 years after making $2 million sending children to jail - rubikscube
http://rollingout.com/criminal-behavior/judge-must-serve-28-years-after-making-2-million-for-sending-children-to-jail/
======
protomyth
"Pennsylvania is one of just a handful of states that do not provide any money
to counties to defend those who can't afford a lawyer."[1]

Perhaps the DA and Public Defenders office should have equal budgets.

I am hoping some very smart lawyer figures out how to sue the prison company
for these children. I am sure their is a corporate veil, but it can be pierced
in the cases of criminal activity. Public-private partnerships work in a lot
of cases, but this one needs a serious hammer to show that pulling this crap
is bad and will put some scheming folks in jail.

1) [http://www.npr.org/2012/03/03/147876810/after-scandal-new-
ru...](http://www.npr.org/2012/03/03/147876810/after-scandal-new-rules-for-
juveniles-in-pa-courts)

~~~
tracker1
I would prefer that the public defenders office and the DA office have to
rotate their staff out to eachother... so you cannot _just_ serve as a DA.

~~~
aswanson
Brilliant. That would align incentives more along the lines of serving justice
rather than sensationalism/careerism.

------
argumentum
I've been following this case for a while .. extremely disturbing situation
and the sentences were far too light for many of the offending parties, such
as the builder of the facility who bribed the judges. Just imagine how it must
have felt to be one of the kids. It's sick, really.

It seems that if you hide behind corporate structures and contracts you can
transform the nature of charges against your actions. In this case, the
offenses committed involved _enslaving children for personal financial gain_.
If there is any offense worse than that, please inform.

~~~
rayiner
The judges received long sentences for their involvement. Robert Powell, co-
owner of the facility and Robert Mericle, the developer who built the
facilities, only pled guilty to failing to report a felony, failing to
disclose money paid as a finders' fee, and conspiracy to tax evasion. They
face one to three years each, but those sentences are consistent with the
felonies to which they pled guilty.

The plea deal is light for the two developers probably because the prosecutor
didn't have as much evidence to pin on them, and because they needed their
cooperation to get the judges. Remember, news articles about a crime are not
admissible as the factual record in a trial. Just because it's obvious from a
news article exactly what happened does not mean that the prosecutor didn't
need to bargain for certain peoples' cooperation to bring all those facts to
light.

~~~
argumentum
_failing to disclose money paid as a finders ' fee_

Umm .. they paid bribes to judges to _enslave children_. This isn't some tech
startup recruiting employees.

~~~
rayiner
Robert Powell claims the judges extorted him:
[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/11/04/ex_own...](http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/11/04/ex_owner_of_pa_youth_lockups_gets_18_months).

It sounds ridiculous, but remember, the standard of proof at a criminal trial
is "beyond a reasonable doubt." In a situation like this with four people
pointing fingers at each other, giving the owners a plea deal probably ensured
the prosecutors' ability to get the judges.

~~~
argumentum
Btw, I agree with you regarding _why_ this outcome was reached. Doesn't change
it being an unjust outcome.

From the article you linked ..

 _" Even though they were in positions of power and influence, I had the
ultimate ability to do the right thing and say no. I was wrong for giving in
and paying them and will forever bear the burden of having done so," he
[Robert Powell] wrote._

Whether or not they "extorted" him (though he still managed to profit in the
millions), doesn't change the seriousness of what he did .. which was to
_enslave children_.

~~~
rayiner
Btw, I don't disagree with you re: the seriousness of what they did. I'm just
saying I see the tactical reason for why they were charged the way they were.

------
solistice
What really troubles me is what they'll do to help those 4000 children. I
think they might lack the maturity to deal with their experience. Hell, if
someone sent me to jail over something like that when I was in my teens, I
would certainly have taken the wrong turn at that point.

~~~
noonespecial
With that many kids, at those impressionable ages, I'd say there's a limited
but real chance they may have created a "Joker" level villian somewhere in
that bunch.

~~~
solistice
What scares me about it is that these kids have likely gotten used to juvenile
detention (and detention in general), which'll lead them to view it more lax.

Adding to that the time they lost outside of the school system, the social
stigma that goes along with having been to "jail" and you've got yourself more
a more explosive cocktail than anything described in the anarchists cookbook.

If you're socially sidelined and have no options for a career, crime is
enticing. Especially since you've been stamped a criminal allready, and you've
been locked up (yes, they were aquitted, but they won't realize that, and
their peers won't either).

Assuming they just took problem kids across the whole spectrum, assuming 500
non problem kids, you have 3500 problem kids. A rough guess of mine would be
that 1-2% are too smart for school kids that cause trouble out of sheer
boredom. So you've got 70 bored hacker type kids that suddenly have someone
who's mistreated them, and I'd want to get back at them. A couple of them
proably took the frugal coping mechanism of sociopathy.

If your school system gets kids to come to school armed, prepared to kill, how
the hell will that play out?

~~~
gohrt
Perhaps these individuals will become empowered freedom fighters on the
outskirts of society who no longer fear the System

------
drcube
> ... received more than $2.6 million ...

> ... forced to pay $1 million ...

Moral: crime pays.

~~~
x0x0
sentences:

this judge, Ciavarella, got 28 years;

the other judge, Conahan, who not only sold kids but also helped prevent use
of the county's facility, got 17.5 years in prison; [2]

Robert Powell, an attorney that passed the bribes and part owner of the
facility, got 18mos in prison and $60k in fines (it is unclear how much he
will serve), plus he gets to serve in Miami to be close to his family. He did
apparently cooperate and wear a wire. [2]

Robert Mericle, the real estate developer who built the two facilities, paid
$2.15MM to fund childrens' health programs and will likely serve 1 year or
even just probation;

And then you read, from the wiki article [1], "Sandy Fonzo, whose son Edward
Kenzakoski committed suicide after Ciavarella gave him a jail sentence,
despite Kenzakoski's first-time offender status" and I sit here amazed.
Millions of dollars of theft, bribes accepted not only for children but in
cases as well, children sold for cash, children pushed into suicide... I'd say
all of them got a slap on the wrist.

The other thing, unremarked upon by the wiki article, is I wonder who else
knew about this? Just like Annie Dookhan, who was faking drug test results in
Boston and sent hundreds at least to prison, possibly tainting _thirty four
thousand_ verdicts, or Jonathan Salvador, who was doing similar things in
texas [4], tainting five thousand convictions, I'd bet good money there where
people who saw this happening. Did you read some of the convictions? "He once
sentenced a teen to three months in jail for creating a MySpace page that
mocked her school’s assistant principal." Many of these fucking pigs knew what
was going on, knew how to fuck a kid who was mouthy or didn't kiss their asses
and send them to the judge that would send the kid up the river. Moral: never
trust a pig.

from [4]

    
    
       Worse yet, the lab Salvador worked for knew he was doing a bad job for 
       years. A DPS investigative commission found that Salvador was asked to 
       correct mistakes in about a third of all the tests he ran. Periodic job 
       evaluations noted that Salvador struggled with an overall understanding of 
       chemistry and that his problems were very systemic and his work right on the 
       edge of tolerable, though not catastrophic. 
       
       It could probably be described as catastrophic now. Twenty cases have been 
       overturned so far, voiding almost 160 years of prison sentences. If all of 
       Salvador's cases are thrown out, which is looking more likely, the lost 
       sentences will total more than 10,000 years.
    
       In Walker County, DA David Weeks has already given up. His 
       office tried to retest evidence from Salvador's cases, but the results were 
       haphazard, Weeks told the Hunstville Item. In a case where [Salvador] said 
       there was drugs, there wouldnt be. And when he said there were no drugs, 
       there were drugs. "Its clear that all the cases [Salvador] worked on are 
       irreparably damaged, Weeks said. He's already making arrangements to expunge 
       the records of every affected defendant. It blew up in our faces.
    

I'd bet if anyone looked hard enough in the kids for cash trade, there were at
best a bunch of other people not seeing what was plain as day in front of
them.

sources: [1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal)

[2] [http://citizensvoice.com/18-month-sentence-for-powell-
kids-f...](http://citizensvoice.com/18-month-sentence-for-powell-kids-for-
cash-financier-and-star-witness-1.1227829)

[3] [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210168/Boston-
state...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210168/Boston-state-
chemist-Annie-Dookhan-arrested-fake-drug-tests-Massachusetts.html)

[4] [http://www.texasobserver.org/fake-lab-results-endanger-
thous...](http://www.texasobserver.org/fake-lab-results-endanger-thousands-of-
drug-convictions/)

[5]
[http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Drug_War_Eats_Itse...](http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Drug_War_Eats_Itself)

edited: I accidentally clicked submit while still editing

~~~
rossjudson
I am _stunned_ that Robert Mericle, who _paid these judges to sentence
children to his facility_ has apparently been able to buy himself a get-out-
of-jail free card.

The message being sent here is, if YOU own a prison and YOU do this, it might
cost you some extra money if you get caught (and some token prison time).

~~~
hga
When I learned about this case some time ago, back when people were appalled
by the inital plea bargains offered to the judges, he and the other guy on
that side claimed it was a shakedown, the judges were extorting them. Which
evidently the authorities believed at the time.

Echoing x0x0's general point, it's pretty clear the county's political machine
knew what was happening and looked the other way.

ADDED: It's telling it took the Feds to bring them to justice; the county and
state level officials just don't seem interested in this atrocity.

------
sp332
The big news: _Once Ciavarella was convicted, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
tossed out 4,000 convictions issued by the judge._ Will the kids or their
families get any restitution for wrongful imprisonment?

~~~
ojbyrne
"He was also forced to pay $1 million in restitution."

I'm not sure who else other than the families would get that.

~~~
unreal37
The IRS. He was convicted of wire fraud and tax fraud.[1]

[1]
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&)

~~~
ojbyrne
Honestly that's kind of disgusting. One arm of the "system" fucked people's
lives up. But restitution goes to another arm of the same system.

~~~
saraid216
I like how the "system" is such a vague and amorphous concept that you had to
put it in air quotes.

------
mmanfrin
It is an absolute travesty that PA Child Care, the people paying the bribes,
have had hardly a punishment at all.

~~~
Zimahl
I'm sure they'll be included with the state and judge in a class-action case
to be filed shorty (if not already).

~~~
apalmer
No, really Yes but No... I dont think that if your corporation purposefully
bribes judges to imprison children for profit, i dont think a civil court fine
is sufficient. These guys should be going to jail for decades.

~~~
a3n
There should be a corporate death penalty that actually gets used. There it
will be less likely that any individual would feel "incented" to do shit like
this.

------
jdmt
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal)

This whole problem stems from the movement to privatize prisons. It's a
disgusting abuse of power. The lives of many at-risk children (and their
families) have been turned upside-down due to greed.

------
noloqy
It's sad that in my country, where prisons are currently run by the
government, there exist plans for privatization. With privatization there's
almost no benefits, and a lot of opportunities for trouble; it the Dutch
government feels the urge to repeat the mistakes of others.

~~~
justinmk
"Privatization" where the government contracts to third parties, is not
privatization. When the decision is centrally-managed, and the revenue raised
by force (taxes), you haven't addressed the central problem. So calling it
privatization is misdirection. It's a confusion of terms that is meant to keep
people arguing in circles.

Actual privatization removes centralized decision-making. We should be able to
opt-out of governments and opt-in to alternative sovereigns. The fact that
governments are allowed to claim authority on the basis of geography is why
they're still in business, and it's why these messed up situations occur.

~~~
noloqy
How would you describe the central problem you're referring to? I think the
main issue here is that "the system" allows for the possibility of an unjust
justice system due to commercial interests.

Everybody agrees that what has happened was illegal and should not have
happened, and that it is the sovereign's responsibility to create a system in
which the risks of such events are minimized, simply because the consequences
can be so far stretching. This can be done by ensuring financial independence
of judges; eliminating the role of parties who benefit from outcomes that are
not necessarily aligned with society's benefits.

I don't yet see how decentralizing decision making reduces this risk.

~~~
justinmk
The central problem is any entity that is allowed to raise revenue by force.
Which is the definition of a State.

> the possibility of an unjust justice system due to commercial interests.

There's no such thing as a non-commercial interest. Money is not the only
thing that is directly in demand. Power is valuable. Regardless of how the
government labels its activities, it has things people want; labeling those
things non-commercial is just marketing. Trying to plug the holes with
regulations and endless "reforms" is a distraction meant to saturate your
time.

> ensuring financial independence of judges; eliminating the role of parties
> who benefit

"Oversight" is a hand-wavy solution to a never-ending problem. The feedback
loop is too long.

> how decentralizing decision making reduces this risk

Competition provides alternatives. Lack of competition reduces incentives for
providing great service. The state has no competition, and it raises revenue
by force, it's silly to expect a good outcome from that.

~~~
apalmer
yoour on the soap box and not really responding to the issues at hand... there
is no such thing as a non commercial interest?

------
mathattack
I feel like I fell for link bait - awful title.

That said, this is hardly a fair sentence. He should have to serve time equal
to all those lives he destroyed. How about surrendering the money and life in
prison?

~~~
clarky07
At 63, 28 years is very likely to be a life sentence. If he makes it, he'll be
91 when he gets out.

~~~
robertfw
He'll probably serve a fraction of that :(

~~~
rdl
Yeah, he'll probably die sometime before the end of the sentence. I'm mostly
ok with that.

(It's going to be really weird if life extension tech becomes pervasive, and
can't be denied to inmates. People who were sent away for 200-300 years,
thinking that would be "well more than life" might end up released
after...200-300 years in prison. That's going to be...interesting.)

~~~
mathattack
Imagine what 200-300 years in prison will do to someone. Would they be totally
serene, or completely psychotic?

The cost of prison goes up dramatically if people are there for hundreds of
years. I think society might reconsider the death penalty. (In addition to
moral reasons, one decision for not pursuing the death penalty is the cost -
the cases drag on for so long that it's usually cheaper to put someone in jail
for life.)

~~~
rdl
I still think the most moral "terminal" punishment is some form of exile. I
wonder if by the time we have 500-1000+ year lifespan, we'd also have some
form of exile available (long slow trips to far away parts of the solar
system?). I think this has been the theme of lots of sci fi.

------
nokya
They forgot the best part: 1) Statistical analysis of the children's ethnicity
and religion. Where is it? 2) What about the personnel working in the prisons?
Where they all completely unaware of that situation? 3) Private prisons are
State-financed. Translation: money was taken from the pockets of US citizens
to make sure these children would not have any chance of a bright future.

Meanwhile, in the USA...

------
ajiang
You can wrongfully send kids/people to jail as long as you don't make money
off of it.

~~~
ars
The assumption is people won't do that since there is no reason for them to.

~~~
alan_cx
Philosophical, religious or political motivations can be reason enough to
many.

~~~
ars
None of those sound like reasons to find someone guilty who is not.

To do that without any personal gain requires hate.

------
Expeck
Wow! I remember these guys from Micheal Moore's movie "Capitalism a Love
Story".There is part about private jails for teenagers. It says that 6500 kids
were unjustly convicted. Some kids were locked up even when probation officers
objected to detention. You can watch that part here:
[http://vimeo.com/39118828](http://vimeo.com/39118828) 00:30:30

------
dlhavema
the title referenced "black children" specifically, but the article didn't
mention it at all, is it supposed to be assumed all/majority of the kids sent
to jail were black?

~~~
pessimizer
It's a black site. The girl who got sentenced for the myspace page was white
(or whitesque):
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

~~~
VladRussian2
how in hell a child can get charged, let alone sent to do actual time, with
crime for a mocking page? ok, judge is corrupt. Fine. Happens. Nevertheless,
the judge wasn't the one who complained, arrested, charged the child. A lot of
adults were involved and they actively facilitated this travesty happening.

People like to blame evil for evil things, yet evil would be able to do much
less without reasonable, supposedly good, people actively helping evil things
to happen.

~~~
greenyoda
I was also shocked by that. How can that be a crime at all? It would seem to
be protected speech under the First Amendment. The judge and anyone else
involved should have all gone to jail just for that one egregious civil rights
violation.

~~~
kansface
The first amendment is highly restricted when it comes to kids in school much
the same way it is inside the armed forces.

------
forrestthewoods
Can we also send all prosecutors who only care about maintaing a 100%
conviction rate to jail? Their actions are the exact same as far as I'm
concerned.

~~~
khuey
A prosecutor maintaining a 100% conviction rate isn't necessarily a bad thing
if it mean they only charge people against whom they can build an ironclad
case.

~~~
dclowd9901
I don't want a 100% conviction rate from a prosecutor. I want a conviction
rate that reflects the statistical norm of a person being charged with a crime
and being convicted. Anything outside of _that_ within a few points margin-of-
error is grounds for removal.

------
ojbyrne
Usually when "restitution" it always seems to be significantly more than the
amount actually taken. In this case, not, and I wonder why:

"...received more than $2.6 million from privately run youth centers owned by
PA Child Care. In 2011, Ciavarella was convicted of racketeering and sentenced
to 28 years in prison. He was also forced to pay $1 million in restitution..."

------
donohoe
The question is - where else is this happening now?

------
guiseppecalzone
There's no mention if there were any repercussions for the private juvenile
facilities.

~~~
Roboprog
If there were any justice, the restitution that the bribing company was
required to pay would bankrupt it (them?). But we know that won't happen :-(

I would have thought that at least somebody in the company would be thrown
under the bus for signing the expense report for the bribes (regardless of the
line item description used instead of "bribe"), though. This will allow the
company to hire a new patsy to bribe new judges to continue their operation.

------
beedogs
I hope this asshole dies in jail, and I fear he's not the last crooked judge
they'll catch doing this shit.

Private prisons are a disgrace to the justice system.

------
grecy
That's a special kind of evil.

------
patmcguire
I've not seen on a single story related to this about the actual bribers: they
just name the company, but don't press criminal charges against individuals,
or even sue the company? How is that an appropriate response?

------
canadiancreed
When I first heard about this, I was thinking that it happened in a third
world country. After reading that it occured in Pennsylvania....I'm just
amazed, disgusted, and furious. Hopefully Harrisburg does a long cleanup of
that section of the state's court system, that civil suit crushes those
responsible for this, and the bastards that profited from such a
bastardization of justice serve the entire sentence out in a Hell on earth.

------
cmsmith
(in 2011)

looks like one of his latest appeals was denied recently.

------
orbitingpluto
Those who prey on children tend to have a real bad time in prison when the
prison population finds out.

Considering the number of people sentenced, good luck keeping their identities
a secret. Neither of the judges is going to enjoy their stay.

------
s_baby
As I've read about this story for the past couple years not once have the
bribers been mentioned. How much time will they be serving? Are these really
people that should be trusted with the incarceration of minors?

------
spoiledtechie
This might be news, but what the heck does this have to do with Hacker News?

------
mhartl
Contra the OP, the problem isn't for-profit prisons _per se_ ; the problem is
for-profit prisons in a political system highly susceptible to rent-seeking by
special interest groups.

------
SloughFeg
Anyone else want to create a HN spinoff with me? We can call it "SOCIAL
JUSTICE NEWS" or just "SOCIAL J" for short.

------
chris_wot
4,000 kids? Each kid has at least 5 people who love and care for them.

20,000 folks who start an action group might start some change!

------
batiste
This is absolutely revolting and disgusting! Good think he got 28 years.

------
icn2
This is why I always object monetizing public services.

------
negamax
Would the prison company be punished for this?

------
vegor5
Should have gotten the lethal injection.

~~~
viggity
how about 28 years in the electric chair?

~~~
alan_cx
What about one of those skin tight spandex suits with shock electrodes in it?
Then give the kids a smart phone with an app that allows them to shock on
demand. Every time they feels angry or frustrated at their lives being ruined,
then can seemly shock the judge...

"Shock the Judge".... Now there's a game show I'd watch.

