Former Pennsylvania judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan have been ordered to pay over $200 million after allegedly receiving kickbacks for sending kids to for-profit jails.
According to reports, Ciavarella and Conahan were ordered to pay more than $200 million in damages in connection to “a scandal of epic proportions.” The judgment was made by U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner, who wrote that the two men “orchestrated” a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for financial rewards. He awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to almost 300 people in the long-running civil suit against Ciavarella and Conahan.
The AP reported that Ciavarella and Conahan previously shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and accepted $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit jails. Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, reportedly enforced a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed many kids would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care. He then allegedly ordered kids as young as eight to detention, including children who were first-time offenders. A large portion of the children Ciavarella reportedly punished were deemed delinquent for minor violations such as jaywalking, petty theft, and truancy.
Judge Conner noted that all plaintiffs were “tragic human casualties” of the plot, which has been widely referred to as the “kids for cash” scandal.
“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” he added. “Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”
Despite the victory, it’s believed to be unlikely that the now-adult victims will receive even a sliver of the $200 million. However, some see Judge Conner’s decision as a win regardless.
“It’s a huge victory,” a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Marsha Levick, said on Aug. 17. “To have an order from a federal court that recognizes the gravity of what the judges did to these children in the midst of some of the most critical years of their childhood and development matters enormously, whether or not the money gets paid.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reportedly threw out some 4,000 juvenile cases after the “kids for cash” plot was made public.
