Posted on 12/15/2013 5:48:11 AM PST by Renfield
(Black News) Mark Ciavarella Jr, a 61-year old former judge in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for literally selling young juveniles for cash. He was convicted of accepting money in exchange for incarcerating thousands of adults and children into a prison facility owned by a developer who was paying him under the table. The kickbacks amounted to more than $1 million.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by him between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Some of the juveniles he sentenced were as young as 10-years old.
Ciavarella was convicted of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution.
His “kids for cash” program has revealed that corruption is indeed within the prison system, mostly driven by the growth in private prisons seeking profits by any means necessary.
Only bigger and bigger government can save us...
Guess which party? (It’s unmentionable.)
See? Nothing to fear from law enforcement, unless you’re doing something wrong!
The police and courts are just looking out for you.
The Court didn't claim that he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles.
The Court determined that he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles,
There is big, big money in the jail and prison businesses and this points out just one of the ways law enforcement gets rich.
Sentence and punishment far too lenient.
If there is any justice, he’ll meet some of those juveniles now grown in prison.
And that’s why I’m against the privatization of the prison industry, no matter how much it saves tax payers.
As in similar scandals involving systemic judicial corruption, there were years of rumors and irregular practices before a determined official investigation was launched. It was eventually shown that many people were involved at a criminal level of culpability.
In Pa (at least when I lived there), judges ran on a non-partisan ticket. The parties did endorse certain ones though.
Do you know him to be a Democrat or endorsed by the Democrats?
His organs should be taken out and sold; with no anesthesia used.
The guy should be drawn and quartered. This is not just some ole crime, this is the kind of thing that starts a revolution. If you can’t trust the judges, you can’t trust the government.
There was a Law and Order SUV episode about this very thing.
Disgusting.
Though most of our congresscritters would sell us all out for money and power.
Let me guess. The judge was a known Tea Party member?
Wikipedia states he was elected on the Luzerne County Democratic ticket in 1995. Furthermore , his co-conspirator, Michael T. Conahan who is currently serving a 17 year prison term on the same charges , is also a Democrat. I know I frequently hear of retention elections in PA and they do run on party lines.
This doesn't "mostly" prove anything of the kind. It proves this particular judge and prison operator were corrupt, but of itself it doesn't say anything about "the system" at all.
You can take that to the bank.
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