Cash for kids judge won't receive lighter prison term
U. S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner minced no words earlier this week in denying the request for a lighter sentence by former Luzerne County juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarella, who locked up thousands of young offenders while taking kickbacks from a detention center.
“To be abundantly clear, if we were authorized to reduce Ciavarella's sentence, we would decline to do so,” wrote Conner, citing Ciavarella's “abuse of public trust by an elected jurist and the resulting harm to vulnerable juvenile victims.”
Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, both of Luzerne County, were convicted in 2011 of sending children as young as age 10, many of whom were before the judges for minor, first-time offenses, to Western Pa. Child Care in Allegheny Township, Butler County, and another facility in Luzerne County.
The former judges were found to be accepting kickbacks for sending the children to the two facilities in what became known as the “cash for kids” scandal.
Conner upheld the 28-year prison sentence imposed upon Ciavarella, 70, who had been seeking a lighter sentence after three of the 12 counts in his conviction were overturned on appeal.
Ciavarella “refuses to acknowledge the scope of his remaining crimes” and stands convicted of taking bribes, Conner said.
The former judge shut down a county-run juvenile detention center in Luzerne and accepted $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups, according to The Associated Press.
Ciavarella was known for his zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of youths would be sent to the two for-profit facilities.
The judge often ordered youths he had deemed delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without saying goodbye to their families.
The judges “betrayed their community and deserve the substantial punishments they received,” U.S. Attorney David J. Freed said in a written statement Wednesday.
As a result of the judges' convictions, the State Supreme Court threw out some 4,000 juvenile convictions.
Conahan, 68, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, but was recently released to home confinement with six years left on his sentence because of coronavirus concerns.
