Two US Judges to Pay $206Mln for Role in Scheme to Send Kids to For-Profit Jails - Filing

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Two former US judges from the state of Pennsylvania were found to have orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks between 2003 and 2007.

On August 17, US district judge Christopher Conner awarded $106 mln in compensatory damages and $100 mln in punitive damages to more than 300 people who fell victim to a scheme involving two Pennsylvania judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

"It is hereby ORDERED that: Judgment is ENTERED in favor of the plaintiffs listed in the court’s Damages Appendix against [Mark] Ciavarella and [Michael] Conahan in the amount of $106,296,945.53 in compensatory damages," US District Judge Christopher Conner said in the court document. "Punitive damages are assessed against Conahan and Ciavarella in the amount of $100,000,000.00."

According to prosecutors, between 2003 and 2007, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, both judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and began siphoning children from the juvenile court to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care. They received $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of the two for-profit jails.

Ciavarella, while serving as a juvenile court judge, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that ensured the maximum number of children would be sent to jail. The former judge reportedly sent a large number of juveniles, some as young as eight years old, to the for-profit detention centers, even for minor infractions. Many of the children were first-time offenders charged with petty crimes.

“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” judge Christopher Conner wrote Tuesday in his explanation of the judgment. “Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”

According to Conner’s ruling, one of the victims testified that Ciavarella had “ruined my life” and “just didn’t let me get to my future”.

After the scheme was uncovered and Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded guilty in February 2009, the Pennsylvania state supreme court threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella involving more than 2,300 young people.

Mark Ciavarella is serving out a 28-year prison sentence and Michael Conahan, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, was released to home confinement in 2020, with six years left on his sentence.