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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPA Judge Who Sold Juveniles to Jail gets 28 years!
?itok=Or6O0U-zA Pennsylvania judge convicted of sending young kids to juvenile detention centers in return for cash has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, reported NPR. Good riddance to this guy.
Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was convicted of taking up to $1 million in bribes from developers of juvenile detention centers in the state of Pennsylvania. The disgraced judge became known for doling out harsh sentences for small, petty crimes in order to receive payment for each kid sent. The scam became known as kids-for-cash.
Between 2003 and 2008, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court tossed 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella because the judge violated the constitutional rights of the kids. These violations included denying the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Disgustingly, his attorneys said that all the media attention on Ciavarella was a good enough punishment.
The media attention to this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever be unjustly branded as the Kids for Cash judge, said the attorneys memo.
https://www.freespeech.org/text/pa-judge-who-sold-juveniles-jails-gets-28-years-prison
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Human101948
(3,457 posts)they are all in these schemes up to their eyeballs.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)The US lets far too much of sh** like this go by.
randys1
(16,286 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)quick. Even in solitary someone will get to him.
malaise
(269,157 posts)Lots more of them need to be in prison - and not just judges
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Human101948
(3,457 posts)all crooks.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Just saying.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)uriel1972
(4,261 posts)The media attention to this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever be unjustly branded as the Kids for Cash judge, said the attorneys memo.
Oh boo hoo! How many lives has he ruined and possibly cut short as a result of his greed.
Good riddance, bad rubbish!
tecelote
(5,122 posts)barbtries
(28,810 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)And he'll piss and moan any time another prisoner even looks at him.
Ed: I'd love to know what the woman in the pic is saying to him.
Probably the mother of a kid he sentenced.
NCjack
(10,279 posts)Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)In fact he later committed suicide and she rightly blames him
There's a documentary called Kids for Cash that covers the story quite well. I believe it was on Netflix streaming recently (as that's the only thing I ever really watch).
haikugal
(6,476 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)tabasco
(22,974 posts)This guy is the lowest of the low.
Whiskeytide
(4,462 posts)... Anything? Anything? ...
Don't get me wrong - very glad he's going to the big house - but it's not going to change much until the people with the $ are held to account.
Basic LA
(2,047 posts)Now we need a sweep of those who bribe the judges!
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)grntuscarora
(1,249 posts)that all the media attention on Ciavarella was a good enough punishment. "
Hey, counselors--bet you'd feel way LESS disgusted if it had been one of YOUR kids that had been sold to a jd center by Ciavarella.
He got what he deserved, and I hope he rots in prison for his full sentence.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)MH1
(17,600 posts)that was my first thought at seeing the headline.
I thought maybe this was round 2, another judge.
Initech
(100,099 posts)Tipperary
(6,930 posts)But I hope he rots there
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)struggle4progress
(118,330 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,210 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)And don't send him to club fed...make sure he has to go to a state prison so he can see his own handywork firsthand.
mikehiggins
(5,614 posts)This judgment may be legal, but it nowhere approaches justice.
His lawyers are just as bad. They think he's unjustly branded? In the good old days he'd not only be "branded" he'd likely be hung.
And what happened to the private prison owners that paid the bribes, selling thousands of kids into virtual slavery?
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)Even you, should you be the target of some local cop over-reach.
Do not blame the lawyers for doing what they swore an oath to do. Everyone is entitled to representation.
mikehiggins
(5,614 posts)That is not the same as "entitled".
A man who kills first graders might be given representation if he was not mentally capable.
A sitting judge who took fees for sending kids to jail? How do you defend that?
Some lawyers...
spanone
(135,861 posts)FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)rurallib
(62,444 posts)and hope it is hard time in some hell hole of a prison.
valerief
(53,235 posts)I mean, isn't he in a protected class?
kairos12
(12,869 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,405 posts)Thanks for the thread, Katashi_itto.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)we know that there is the guy that gets caught, and the dozen guys that do not, thus why the first thing the power that be want is for people to forget this even happened. This needs to be like a radio hit: played loud and often, so that those who cozy up to the prison industry cannot and will not be allowed to hide.
MerryBlooms
(11,771 posts)Unknown Beatle
(2,672 posts)Is he going to be eligible for parole after 10 years served?
This asshole needs to serve life in prison with no parole whatsoever. Didn't some kids commit suicide over his harsh sentencing? Ruin lives for money? He's the lowest human life form there is. Scum is not a harsh enough word.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)People serve a lot more for lesser crimes. Not to mention that as a JUDGE he had tremendous power over these kids - to me that makes it so much worse as there was no way anyone had a chance to fight back.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
Dr Rise
(99 posts)happyslug
(14,779 posts)He shown his brilliance as a judge when he continued to say there was NO connections between the sentences he handed out AND the money he received AFTER agreeing to a plea bargain where he would have just had to serve seven years in prison. That denial forced the Trial judge to reject the plea bargain and set the case for trial, and out of that trial came this 28 year sentence.
As to the people who PAID the judge:
Robert Mericle, the prominent real estate developer who built the two juvenile facilities, pleaded guilty on September 3, 2009, to failing to disclose a felony. Mericle had failed to tell a grand jury he had paid $2.1 million to Ciavarella and Conahan as a finder's fee. As part of his plea, Mericle agreed to pay $2.15 million to fund local children's health and welfare programs. Mericle faced up to three years in prison and a $250,000 maximum fine. On April 25, 2014 Robert Mericle was sentenced to serve one year in Federal Prison.
Sandra Brulo, the former Deputy Director of Forensic Services for the Luzerne County Juvenile Probation Office, agreed to plead guilty in March 2009 to federal obstruction of justice. Those charges stemmed from actions Brulo took after she became aware she had been named in the federal civil action. Brulo backdated her recommendation of placement she made concerning a juvenile defendant in September 2007, and changed her original recommendation of placement to probation.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any Judgement against the private prisons and the owners of those prisons that paid the bribes did NOT have to be paid by the Insurance Company for the prison and the prison owners. `
http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/122016np.pdf
Remember this was a FEDERAL action against the judge, and it started out as an INCOME TAX case (the Judge failed to report the income on his income tax forms). The people who paid never claimed the payments as a business expense so NOT used to reduce their income taxes, thus no FEDERAL tax liability for them. No State Charges were EVER brought against the judges involved.
More on the Cash for Kids Scandal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal
Stuart G
(38,439 posts)On August 11, 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison.
from wikepedia.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ciavarella
Ciavarella initially served his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Pekin in Pekin, Illinois. In October 2014 he was moved to Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City.[26] His earliest projected release date is December 30, 2035.
He is now inmate # 15008-067 at the Federal Correctional Institution, Williamsburg at Salters, South Carolina.[27]
happyslug
(14,779 posts)Gregory Zappala is the brother of Stephen Zappala jr, the present Allegheny County DA AND the son of Stephen Zappala, SR, a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice (Join the Supreme Court in 1983, became Chief Justice in 2002, but also turned age 70 in 2002 and thus had to retire at the end of 2002).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Zappala
http://www.pacourts.us/assets/files/newsrelease-1/file-907.pdf?cb=a119a8
http://www.wtae.com/Team-4-D-A-Zappala-s-Brother-Owns-Juvenile-Centers-In-Kickback-Case/7741908
http://reform-network.net/?p=10357
I should note that DA Stephen Zappala did NOT send any juveniles to his brother's prison, unlike the Judges in Luzerne County, even through the prison was in Western Pennsylvania and owned by his brother.
Luzerne County is in "Central Pennsylvania". Central Pennsylvania traditionally ends at Blue Mountain, the first Mountain Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. That mountain as it enters Pennsylvania from the South, is about 1/3 of the way west, thus the actual middle of the State is NOT called "Central Pennsylvania" but the Mountains (Among other names BUT NOT "Central Pennsylvania" .
Western Pennsylvania starts at Allegheny Mountain (Through sometimes Altoona, just EAST of that mountain is called "Western Pennsylvania" and extends to the Ohio Border. Allegheny Mountain is the last ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. Allegheny Mountain is about 2/3rds of the way across Pennsylvania as you go East to West. Please note, these are names used along the Southern Border of Pennsylvania, Northern Pennsylvania has its own sets of names.
Thus you had a Judge, sitting in a county in the Middle of "Central Pennsylvania" sending Children to a Private Prison in Western Pennsylvania. Three quarters of the way across the state for minor crimes. The owner of that prison was the Son of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice AND the Brother of Allegheny County (County seat is PITTSBURGH PA) District Attorney. As I pointed our earlier no STATES charges were brought against these judges, the charges were all Federal. If you look at my discussion below about the regions of Pennsylvania, look at the map I posted in that section. Luzerne County is in the area just south and east of the Blue Ridge, The Judges from that County sent the victims to a Private prison near the Ohio Border.
Once the fight with the settlers of Delaware was solved, settlers stated to move outside the five county Philadelphia Area into the Susquehanna River Drainage system (which is also referred to as the "Piedmont Section of the State, but it is a term rarely used, Piedmont is a term for the same area in Maryland and Virginia). Most of this area flowed into the Susquehanna River NOT the Delaware River (and then emptied into the Chesapeake bay NOT the Delaware bay). Given the best way to ship goods was by boat in the 1700s, once past the counties around Philadelphia you had a strong tendency to ship goods to Baltimore instead of Philadelphia. Worse, under the grants from the King of England, Maryland went as far North to include Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania land grant include Baltimore. Thus Central Pennsylvania was in dispute all during the 1700s till an agreement was made between the colones as to their joint border. As part of that agreement both sides hired Mason and Dixon to make their famous line showing that border in 1763.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn%E2%80%93Calvert_Boundary_Dispute
Now the Susquehanna River flows from the Up State New York Border with Pennsylvania through Blue Mountain, past Harrisburg till it reaches Baltimore. Branches of that river flows from Scranton area of Northeastern Pennsylvania (and borders the Delaware River Drainage area) till Allegheny Mountain, which is the Eastern Continental Divide (and the border of Western Pennsylvania). The Appalachian Mountains do a turn in Pennsylvania. South of Pennsylvania the Appalachian Mountains run North to South. In Pennsylvania the Appalachian Mountains do an almost 90 degree turn and enter New York State just NORTH of the New York City area running East to West. This turn happens NORTH of Harrisburg, Luzerne County, Allentown and Bethlehem. This 90 degree turn make the Appalachian Mountains in Northern Pennsylvania the longest East-West Mountains in the Eastern US. Thus the area from Scranton to about three quarter across the state is referred to as the "Endless Mountains" for once in them, they seem to last forever if you are going East to West (going North to South they are much shorter, but few people want to go from Scranton PA to Elmira NY, but a lot of people want to go from New York City to Chicago via I-80 which goes through those mountains.
Allegheny Mountain is the Allegheny Front in Pennsylvania, it is the last ridge in the Application Mountains in Pennsylvania, west of the front you have a lot of what the locals call "Hills" and other people call "Mountians" but are the result of erosion of a Plateau, leaving steep cliffsides along any river, creek or other waterway in the area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Front
Here is a geologist Map of the Appalachian Mountains, Around Philadelphia you notice it is flat land, then you enter the Piedmont area of the State, then the "Blue Ridge" Mountain (Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania), then the "Great Valley" Section. then the "ridge and valleys" of the Appalachian Mountains proper, then the Allegheny Plateau.
Thus most of Northern Pennsylvania is referred to as the endless mountains. Scanton is occasionally referred to as Anthracite Country (Anthracite Coal is from that part of the State), or just the Coal region:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Region
Wikipedia states the term "Endless Mountains" is restricted to Northeastern PA, but I do not restrict the term to that small an area for I extend that term to the entire Allegheny Plateau which extends almost to Cleveland Ohio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_Mountains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Plateau
Part of the problem is most of the "Endless Mountains" are NOT true mountains but a "Dissected plateau" which for people having to go up and down them makes no real difference but is a difference to geologists:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissected_plateau
More on the Allegheny Mountains:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Front
Northwestern Pennsylvania is sometimes referred to as the Oil Region for the first oil wells were drilled in that part of the State:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_Region
Just a comment on the sections of Pennsylvania and what some of the local call each region.
Another way to look at this is to look at the elevation map of the Great Allegheny Passage from Washington DC to Pittsburgh. That chart show the following:
1. The flatness around DC,
2. The increase in the Piedmont from DC to Harper's Ferry,
3. The Great Valley once you go by Harper's Ferry (which is on the Potomac Rivers as it cuts through the Blue Ridge, called "Blue Mountain" in Pennsylvania, "South Mountain" in Maryland, "Shenandoah Mountain" in Virginia), and the resulting slow increase in attitude till you get to Cumberland.
4, Then the sharp climb up the Backside (Washington DC side) of Allegheny Mountain,
5. Then down that Mountain till Ohiopyle and
6. Then through the Allegheny Plateau till it reaches Pittsburgh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Pennsylvania#Blue_Mountain
The Trail avoids most of the up and down of the Ridge and Valleys of the Appalachian Mountains and the Allegheny Plateau but gives you an idea about these mountains:
niyad
(113,527 posts)caused those kids and their families (however screwed up they might have been)
do I remember correctly that his wife was involved with these kid prisons?
Renew Deal
(81,869 posts)28 years seems light, but I doubt this guy will see the outside of a prison.
ck4829
(35,084 posts)He's had opportunity after opportunity to give 'his side' of the story and he refused to do so, he unjustly denied others their freedoms and now he's complaining about him being on the other end, he's a sociopath, plain and simple.
burrowowl
(17,644 posts)tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)glad to hear this
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)That, from what I understand is going full steam ahead.
Privately run prisons are an abomination they should ALL be shut down yesterday.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)This guy sat in judgment of others. Just imagine how many times he allowed his petty sentiments (or money) to cloud his judgment. All the cases this guy ruled on need to be carefully examined.
Quid Pro Quo. We need to stamp it out. We can start with the Citizens United decision and go from there. Corruption is rampant!
Voting for Bernie would be a start.
LeftishBrit
(41,209 posts)cui bono
(19,926 posts)You know he'll only serve about half of that and think about all the lives he ruined.
And where is he going to serve his term? Are they going to put him in a regular jail? I would bet not, since he probably wouldn't 'last' long in one once it becomes known what he did.
.
perdita9
(1,144 posts)I live in Pennsylvania. This scum deserves life without the possibility of parole.
patsimp
(915 posts)Dr. Xavier
(278 posts)except for one crime, political corruption. Traitors like this should be flayed in public (on pay-per view) and right before they pass out should be water boarded with rubbing alcohol and then set on fire.
On a lighter note: Happy Last Day of 2015!!!
Scalded Nun
(1,236 posts)A recipe for corruption at all levels
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)Chapter 21-Omaha
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016139460