Judges took $2.6 million in payoffs to put kids in jail
 

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.

Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court?s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.

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

where the fuck were the parents? you think they would have thought something was up.

Private prisons and other institutions within law enforcement should not exist. They should be banned.

This is the PERFECT example of what happens when you turn law enforcement duties into profiit-generating industries: justice goes by the wayside, the door is opened to this very kind of corruption, and justice takes a backseat to money and revenue and it is exactly the reason the US incarcerates more people than any other country on the planet.

90% of the people in this country don't know about what rights they have or dont have.. :2 cents:

these judges should get life sentences like any other public official that betrays the publics trust...

did you ever watch Boston Legal, the show was always spot on with regards to politics and judicial situations, there was one show with a trial almost identical to this scenario.

anyways, the prison system is a huge cost for the public, where there is a cost, there will be a profit for someone else... i predict much more outsourcing of prisons and inmates in the future.. just look at california's overcrowded prisons, soon inmates will be sent to prisons in other states, paid by state of california..:2 cents:

qft!!!!!

pretty sad, wonder whats gonna happen to the child care companies

im not very legal savvy, but would it be under conspiracy? paying for crimes for profit.

again im not a legal guy

Yes, racketeering as well

gangbanging /smoking crack.