WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has approved a $4.75 million settlement between a businessman at the center of a Pennsylvania juvenile justice scandal and youths sent to his detention centers by a corrupt judge.
Robert Powell was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the scandal that became known as “kids for cash,” a kickback scheme that led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to vacate the convictions of thousands of juveniles.
Powell testified he was forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan in return for their support of his two private juvenile facilities.
The settlement agreement, approved Monday, covers at least 2,400 juveniles who appeared before Ciavarella between January 2003 and May 2008.
Prosecutors said Ciavarella ordered youths to detention for a wide range of relatively minor infractions, thus helping to fill the beds of Powell’s PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.
Ciavarella and Conahan are serving lengthy prison terms in connection with the scandal.
Plaintiffs have until Oct. 5 to submit a claim.
The plaintiffs previously reached a $2.5 million settlement with PA Child Care, Western PA Child Care and another company. The builder of the facilities, Robert K. Mericle, who paid the judges more than $2 million, agreed in 2011 to pay more than $17 million to the juveniles and their families.
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This was one of the cruelest, vile, immoral schemes concocted by the private prison complex - a group for whom cruel, vile, and immoral are operating principles. Everyone involved should be doing life in a super max and their kid jails turned into schools paid for by their confiscated wealth.
A few years from now when one of these assholes gets released, they’ll have turned into the biggest advocates for prison reform. These wealthy/power hungry people have zero ability to empathize and only change their minds on something after a first-hand traumatic experience jars them loose from their selfish egoism. But even then, they’ll make it about themselves.
The settlements for these kids – now adults – will fund what, a semester of state college?
I sure as hell hope many a tossed salad is on the menu for this no good peice of shit…with extra dressin…ifin ya know what i mean…
We should all be personally offended by the word “settlement” in any aspect of the justice system with regard for these felons. We allow suit and tie criminals to pay for their crimes with the currency they reaped from their activities.
So stupid as to defy logic.
Our laws need to be revised to allow acts such as these against children to be treated as violent crimes, including punishment by death. We know of at least one child suicide resulting from their crimes, so in my book this qualifies as a violent act against children. Settlement is absurd! Plea deals are not serving justice adequately.