Two former state judges who took bribes to send hundreds of children to prison have been ordered to pay more than $200 million for the scheme.
In the so-called kids for cash scandal, Pennsylvania judges Mark Sheavarella, 72, and Michael Conahan, 70, were sent to a county juvenile detention center in exchange for illegal payments of $2.8 million from co-owners and developers. closed. Two profitable castles.
US District Judge Christopher Connor awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to nearly 300 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against a judge.
The victims are “tragic human victims of a scandal of epic proportions,” Conner wrote in an explanation of the decision Tuesday.
While presiding over juvenile court, Ciaverella maintained a zero-tolerance policy that resulted in many eight-year-olds being placed in for-profit institutions (PA Child Care or Western PA Child Care). Many children were sent for minor offenses such as smoking, loitering, shoplifting, and no offenses.
Shea Verella is serving a 28-year sentence in Kentucky and will be released in 2035.
Meanwhile, Konohan is serving more than 17 years in prison, but the coronavirus pandemic forced him to go home in 2020 with six years left.
The state Supreme Court has overturned nearly 4,000 juvenile convictions against more than 2,300 children since the demise of the system.
“Ciavalera and Conahan reneged on the oath of office and betrayed the public trust,” Connor wrote.
“His cruel and despicable behavior affected a vulnerable group of young people, many of whom had emotional and mental health problems.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Marsha Levick, co-founder and senior attorney at the Philadelphia Juvenile Law Center, called Wednesday’s ruling a “huge victory.”
“Whether money is paid or not, get a federal court order that recognizes the seriousness of what the judges did to these children during the most critical years of their childhood and development,” Levick said.
The scandal was one of the worst in the history of the American judicial system.
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Source: Metro
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