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| Forums > Talk About It! > Toker's Den > Found on the Net > "Kids for cash" judge busted | ||
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08-11-2011, 10:32 PM
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#1 |
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We are Farmers
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: An Elevated Plane of Existence
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"Kids for cash" judge busted
You think maybe for profit prisons are a really really bad idea?
https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...77A6KG20110811 (Reuters) - A former Pennsylvania juvenile court judge was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for accepting payment to send juveniles to a for-profit detention facility in a scandal dubbed "kids for cash,". Former Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark Ciavarella, 61, accepted nearly $1 million from a developer who built the detention facility, prosecutors said. Under the "kids for cash" scheme, thousands of juveniles were shipped to the private center on minor or questionable charges by Ciavarella and another former judge, Michael Conahan, according to juvenile advocates. "Mr. Ciavarella abused his position of trust and inflicted a deep and lasting wound on the community he vowed to service," U.S. Attorney Peter Smith said following the sentencing. "The scheme involved a corrupt agreement with the operators of the for-profit juvenile facilities," Smith said. "It was a wholesale arrangement in which the judges concealed their interest and thereby did great damage to the public." The U.S. Attorney's office called the case the "largest and most sustained political corruption inquiry" in the area. Ciavarella was convicted in February of 12 charges, including racketeering conspiracy and money laundering. During the trial, Ciavarella testified that the money he received from Robert Mericle, the facility's developer, amounted to "finder fees" and had no connection to the fact that he was a sentencing judge. Al Flora, Ciavarella's attorney, said he would appeal. Conahan, formerly the president judge of the Luzerne County court, has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors said Conahan closed the publicly owned Luzerne County Juvenile Detention Facility and helped arrange financing for the private facility. Both former judges obstructed efforts to investigate the county's use of the private facility and also their financial relationships with Mericle and Robert Powell, the owner of the juvenile center, prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorney's office said more than 30 local and state government officials and contractors have been convicted or are awaiting trial in the case. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston) |
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1 members found this post helpful. |
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08-11-2011, 10:51 PM
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#2 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Medicated State
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I can't recall where/when, but there was a documentary that might have been this very judge... assigned a large number of children with relatively minor crimes to this facility & would extend their sentences w/o ever seeing or reviewing the cases.
We learned a while ago you can't trust the teachers/school books... Can't trust the cops... Can't trust the lawyers... Can't trust the politicians... Can't trust the free market... Can't trust the doctors... Can't trust the priests... Can't trust the banks... And you can't trust the judges. Please feel free to add to the list... I can already think of a few more. Was this world ever a good place? Or has humanity ever been worth a damn? So much shit just happening all over the place... and over & over & over again... never a shortage of depressing ass shit that makes you question everything. Man, there are a lot of fucked up people everywhere, in power positions, just doing... crappy ass shit. Depressing. |
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3 members found this post helpful. |
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08-11-2011, 11:10 PM
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#3 |
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May your race always be in your favor
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: On the Short Bus to nowhere
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So my question is how many people in general have been sent to a "Joint" thats privately run. How many pot smokers been railroaded so the Corrections Corp of America has full cells. Full private prisons make billions for the owners. The shame is if this judge and I use the term looooosly, how many other kid in other jurisdictions are or have been sent up the river so this private company has a full prison.
How many pot smokers are in private prisons for smoking a plant. 
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Liberalism is the trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is the distrust of the people tempered by fear. William H Gladstone |
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08-11-2011, 11:18 PM
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#4 |
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Medicinal Advocate
  
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: wandering further down the path less travelled
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too many minor pot cases must've gone through this corrupt system. I'm sure everyone knows that once you have a drug conviction on your record that you automatically do not qualify for any govt loans/grants for education. I can see a shitload of cases overturned in the near future now that these dirtbags have been sentenced. |
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08-12-2011, 12:26 AM
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#5 |
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 547
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I am not a gay man. However, I would have no shame in pulling an American History X on this guy.
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08-12-2011, 01:46 AM
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#6 |
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 561
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I'm sure he was the only one though. We're good.
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08-12-2011, 02:13 AM
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#7 | |
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Moderately Super
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Chillin on sesame street puffin a 10th letter
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"In the wake of the scandal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea".
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1 members found this post helpful. |
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08-12-2011, 04:53 AM
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#8 | |
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Strain Collector/Seed Junkie/Landrace Accumulator/Bean Gatherer
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Quote:
can't trust the insurance companies... can't trust the pharmaceuticals... this kinda shit really pisses me off. when those in authority abuse their power to the detriment of the accused for any reason, profit or other, they deserve harsher sentences. 28 years and 4000 convictions overturned  someone will probably kill him in prison before he would be eligible for parole... |
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08-12-2011, 05:45 AM
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#9 |
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Seven-Thirty
Join Date: Nov 2008
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cant trust babies mothers
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08-12-2011, 05:57 AM
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#10 | |
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Senior Member
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