Two Pennsylvania judges ordered to pay $200M in for-profit jail scheme with kids

Two Pennsylvania judges who sent kids as young as 8 to for-profit jails and then pocketed a cut of the revenue have been ordered to pay back more than $200 million to their victims.

Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, both judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, shut down a county-run juvenile detention center, then began siphoning children from the juvenile court to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care, according to prosecutors.

Many of the children were first-time offenders charged with petty crimes and misdemeanors, including mocking an assistant principal on MySpace and trespassing in a vacant building.

In this Sept., 15, 2009 photo, former Luzerne County Court Judges Michael Conahan, front left, and Mark Ciavarella, front right, leave the United States District Courthouse in Scranton, Pa. (Mark Moran/The Citizens' Voice/)

Ciaverella is currently serving 28 years in prison. Conahan was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison and released to home confinement in 2020 during COVID-19 releases.

More than 4,000 convictions were overturned when the scandal came to light.

Almost 300 plaintiffs in the civil suit were awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.

“Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner wrote Tuesday.

“Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.”

With News Wire Services