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Student Satirist Gets 3 Months; the Judge, Likely More
ponraul writes "When Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 58, sentenced Hillary Transue, 17, on a harassment charge stemming from a MySpace parody of her high school's assistant principal, Hillary expected to be let off with a stern lecture; instead, the Wilkes-Barre, PA area teen got three months in a commercially operated juvenile detention center. In a reversal of fortune, Ciavarella and his colleague, Judge Conahan, 56, find themselves trying to plea-bargain an 87-month sentence in Federal correctional facilities relating to a kick-back scheme that netted the pair $2.6 Million and PA Child Care 5000 inmates." True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.
im suprised myspace isnt filtered in china
True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.
Also operated on commercial grounds? Because the very concept of a commercial prison to me seems...something out of a really bad science fiction movie....
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
So do all the kids still have these marks on their records?
If so then these judges did permanent damage to these individuals. The judges should be charged with much more serious crimes. One count for every person they fucked over. Judges especially need to be held to higher standards, put them in prison for life.
TRUE poetic justice would see them incarcerated in the juvenile detention facilities themselves, surrounded by the very kids they sent there.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
What sort of recourse does the girl have? Are there protections preventing her from suing for having three months of her life wasted?
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
That's what you get for setting up a privately-owned for-profit detention system.
These two scumbags are in my state. And I'm in law school, so they also represent my profession. I've of course been following this story on the local media.
They sent kids to privately owned and operated juvenile detention facilities in exchange for kickbacks. They ruined the lives of children for money.
Hangings too good for 'em.
I didn't see the myspace page or know anything about that case, but he should have been disbarred for that ruling alone if it was strictly satire.
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
I dunno, man. I'd imagine that being a former judge in a prison is right up there with being a former prosecutor. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to keep him on 24-hour isolation and/or suicide watch. He deserves much worse, but I suspect this will not be a cakewalk for him either.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
1. PA Child Care should be shut down. If their business model depends on crooked judges, their business model is wrong.
2. Now every single case that ended with juveniles sentenced there should be reviewed. (Looks like they're only looking at the one judge's 5000 cases. They need to look at all of them.) The former judge should be billed for all expenses.
3. Whoever paid the bribes, and whoever authorized them, and whoever knew about this business model and kept quiet, also need to be tried.
4. An appropriate punishment would be a month in jail for every month spent in the facility for every inmate he wrongfully sent there.
5. No profit.
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
A class action lawsuit being brought against the judges. Here is a link to the local paper, The Standard Speaker, about the pleas.
The judge has has his pension and pay terminated. I'm from around that area and it's actually big talk. If you search through the Standard Speaker site you'll see some comments from kids that were sent there.
An AC says before if these marks are still on the records for the kids. Well why wouldn't they be? Just because the sentencing was wrong doesn't mean the crime wasn't committed.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
I hear judges don't do to well in prisons.
To paraphrase the movie Braveheart, The trouble with law, is that its practiced by lawyers.
Ahh, the sweet sound of justice. Too bad it happened this late, after these two retards had been living "the American Dream" and doing it "the American way" for that long...
Most prisoners are in for minor drug offenses. When will people realize that THE MAJORITY of judges are corrupt / receiving 'kickbacks' from the corrupt system, in which they get paid more and are employed longer for the more people the lock up.This not only goes for judges but for everyone employed in corrections, including the police and prison guards, the prison industrial complex, etc.
With the states, the federal government, running massive deficits w/ no end in sight, how long can we afford to wait?
Legalize and regulate, no person should be a criminal for voluntarily putting a substance in his own body, no matter how harmful the substance is, so long as they don't put any other individuals at risk (eg, permit sale, possession, and use, but still prohibit driving under the influence of anything and giving these substances to minors). Anything short is anti-free-society.
Little over 7 years seems hardly enough considering the scope of their crimes.
There are some things in this world that should never be run by private companies for the purposes of making a profit.
Prisons are one of them. The idea that people can make a profit by locking people up is repugnant. Much in the same way that mercenary forces are generally a bad idea. The last people you want are those that *want* more war because that way they make more money.
The profit incentive is fine in most cases, and generally I'm pro the free market, but there are some things we don't want to be encouraging.
Paul
Paul Leader
We desperately need a special police force and judicial system that has the power to arrest, try and jail or execute *only* public officials, with no power over ordinary citizens. Seeing a few hundred corrupt judges and prosecutors and police officers and government employees hanging from yardarms or rotting in prison will do wonders for shaping them up.
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
We are just one step from similar judges sending people to slave camps and another to a soylent green processing plant.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
why is this a slashdot story?
I'm from there and this is only the tip of the iceberg of corruption.... but why is this on slashdot?
I will preface this by saying I don't know what charge they "convicted" the teenager of.
1) Isn't satire completely protected under the first amendment, ESPECIALLY if it is explicitly stated that it is satire? The page she created had a disclaimer on it.
2) The assistant principal is a public figure, and thus, under Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, can't even sue for emotional distress, let alone have someone convicted of a criminal offense.
The sentence needs to be immediately overturned, the record expunged, and the family should have the right to sue at least the judge, if not the state.
Judicial corruption should get zero tolerance. For each of the 5000 kids sent to these private prisons for the profit of the judges, the judges should have an equal number of months to the kids' sentences removed from their lives. The punishment must fit the crime. Clearly, for the aggregate theft of life from children, these judges deserve death.
What these judges have done, in terms of total injury to others, is far worse than a single murder. They have also undermined the faith of the public in the justice system. This faith can only be restored by reforms to the justice system so that punishments truly fit the harms caused by the crimes.
Until we have a justice system in which men such as this face a sentence of death, we really don't have justice. Similarly, why is Bernie Madoff still walking around free? Steal $50 from a liquor store, go to jail. Steal $50 billion, and you're treated far better. And what about Dick Cheney? Our system is about punishing the poor and minorities in order to enforce a class system, not about really going after the psychopaths who are pushing our civilization over the edge.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
Non-NYTimes link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008739323_judges13.html
In case you hate being asked to log in to read an article.
I talk about stuff.
commercially operated juvenile detention center
A Mall?
Starring Adam Sandler
My first thought (maybe not my best one) in this case is "Why?"
Why would the judge get kickbacks for jailing juveniles (or others)? Where is the money to be made by the detention center?
Is this obvious evidence of a system of what amounts to forced slave labor?
If that is the case, then this whole "rights erosion/surveillance state" gets scarier by the minute. If you can be jailed by a corrupt (kick-back $)system that can deem almost anything a crime and which is watching many actions you take outside your home and online suddenly the system can arbitrarily harvest enough (slave) labor to do what it wants. Dystopian corporate future, anyone?
I know it's just one judge, but how many more of them are there? Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee, but this is a little scary.
Am I missing something?
-
The judges should be locked up for at least 20 years. When an individual picks up the mantel of public protector the laws that govern them should be much harsher than for normal citizens; they are given authority over us "normal" people and should be punished in the harshest manner if they abuse that trust. The same goes for pigs, soldiers, etc.
(\(\
(^.^) INFECTED
(")")
judges go to prison
You're so naive. It's cute!
The poor judge will have to spend time at home.
You can't take the sky from me...
This had been going on for YEARS! Did nobody notice that 2 Judge Roy Beans had been putting kids in jail for trivialities? Did these bozos just sit on their kickbacks, saving them up for their retirement?
It would be better for all of us if you were motivated to proactively protect the innocent. Making an example of the judge won't help Hillary now.
I mean, apparently it was people who thought "we need to bring scumbag kids like Hillary to justice!" which brought kids like her before the judge in the first place... I don't see more of the same sentiment as being very helpful
Note to self: If you're going to make fun of someone on MySpace, do it under an alias. Like "Bill Gates" for instance.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
They should have to serve 2 days for every single day of confinement they sentenced their victims to.
And one day for each dollar they gained from it.
I wonder if the people they sent to jail will have some sort of recourse available to them.
Hurricane Island Outward Bound
OB
This sort of thing happens all the time. I did a technology contract for "Servo-lift Eastern" who is a big vendor for the prison system.
Privately run prisons are a big business in the U.S.A. Why do you think we imprison more of our population than any other western country? Because the good 'ol boys make money in jailing poor people who can't defend themselves.
Hey, I understand politics. I don't expect human beings to be pillars of integrity, everyone is corrupt on some level. However, if you are willing to knowingly cause material harm to another human being for money, you need to die.
Not even an allegation of abuse?
That seems awfully unlikely. Even if none at all were going on, there are some kids who would claim it was, if for no better reason than to fuck with the administrators, or even just to get attention.
And the percentage of kids who would make something like that up is probably higher among those that end up getting sent to a juvenile detention facility than among the general populace.
To go five years without even a single accusation (even if it's proven false) makes me think that complaints are simply ignored and no records kept.
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
Wow, never thought Id read the local news on /.
"True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants."
Actually, Ive been to this facility, and it is rather nice. They should really be sent to Guantanamo or Auschwitz (sic?). These two are really pieces of crap, so are all the sleazy lawyers who were helping them out, to date I think there are 9 or 10 involved.
That is *slavery* for profit, human trafficking.
That's not poetic justice. Putting them in a juvie facility would be letting them off easy. Judicial corruption should get the supermax treatment.
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
Same reason you'd outsource anything else - constrain costs and not be stuck with inventory. These are usually for non-violent, or low-violence crimes.
In some states like CA and TX, prison spending is higher than school spending. One percent of the US population in the justice system at any time.
...when are those responsible for supplying the bribes going to be punished. I suspect there should be at least a dozen people who knew of said scheme, and did nothing to stop it, and another dozen who instigated and profited from it directly. Ship them some KY, they're gonna need it.
file an appeal, and a civil suit against the state. This is an unacceptable situation.
They're using their grammar skills there.
True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.
No, true justice would be the normal minimum-security adult prison, but for life, no possibility of parole. This is such a foul perversion of the system that anything less than a life sentence would be offensive. (Obviously I'd settle for 6 months per kid, to be served consecutively, as it would have the same effect.)
I haven't seen any mention of the vice principal who brought the charges in the first place.
True, he was just a fuckhead, not a corrupt criminally greedy fuckhead, but still, what kind of person presses criminal charges against someone for making fun of them on myspace? Is this guy still employed by the school? And, if so, why?
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
..the magic of "Bugmenot.com" which via an extension in Firefox allows me to go right in many many more sites than just the NY Times.
--bornagainpenguin
Have a Virgin Mobile USA smartphone? Give VMRoms.com a try!
aka: pennsylvania between pittsburgh & philly;-)
If the state-run prisons are overcrowding, solve the problem, don't just throw more resources at it.
my suggestions:
1. wtf is up with life w/o parol? this should be death.
2. death should be delivered swiftly and cheaply...bullets are very cheap...firing squad.
3. 1st degree murder = death
4. those with death sentences get 1 year to appeal to a deity, no appeals to court.
5. after conviction of 3 violent crimes (mame, torture, kill, non-statutory rape, child molestation), sentence is death.
That should alleviate prison populations a great deal and save tax-payers a ton of money. If prisons are full of white-collar criminals, then who's running the country?
How long will it take to make absolute our right to free speech. In this case a local judge, now found to be a crook, has sentenced a young person for the high crime of satire. Satire is not harassment. The only way to stop these violations of free speech is to stop these cases well before they appear in court. In other words no case involving speech should ever be allowed in a court of law.
tax fraud the 2.6 mil is already gone
every case they have ever touched should be thrown out completly they had the right to an impartial judge and jury this was not provided hence mistrial the kids should be off now(retrial would be double jeopardy) but most of them already served there sentence all those sentences should be accumulated and given to these two and of course they should be disbarred and have there pensions taken
ianal but isn't that how it's supposed to fall i guess the accumulated sentences being dumped on them might be a bit eye for an eye this doesn't look legaly complicated at all other than the legal system might not like the implications?
Something with Christopher Lambert in it, maybe?
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
The administration of juvenile courts, including probation and detention facilities, is commonly run by juvenile court judges. This is different from the way most everything else is run in the USA. In most other scenarios, the legislature decides what the show is, the executive runs the show, and the judges resolve differences of opinion.
In the juvenile courts, judges get a budget and very little oversight. They're not just judging--they are contracting (sometimes on a big scale). This presents a fertile ground for corruption.
From what I've read, it looks like this corrupt judge was outrageous for years and that still a snitch was necessary to secure his prosecution. This doesn't bode well for catching other bad judges.
Why not separate judges from the contracting process?
This person needs to be jailed, fired, drawn and quartered, and disbarred. This is 7th level of hell kind of betrayal of public trust. Yet another reason the for profit prison industry is a bad idea. IMO.
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
They haven't done that yet, as far as I know. Hope they nail them - they're just as bad as the judges. This is what allowing incarceration to generate a profit brings to the criminal justice system.
From my (limited) understanding, people like this tend not to do well inside. They are too likely to meet with prior acquaintances who bear grudges.
While the current story is interesting, it's even more interesting to read the history leading up to it, including this story detailing his earlier resignation and the responses of locals.
It's just a bad idea to have any for profit company running criminal justice operations such as prisons. I remember a story about one of the companies running many Texas prisons. The law forbids them from lobbying about laws increasing the penalties for crimes or making new criminal laws. Although they were prohibited from outright lobbying they were found to be using "back door" means to influence the state legislature. Some of the things they were doing is to form "community organizations" which they then funded heavily.
The profit motive in criminal justice should just be eliminated. Criminal justice should be run entirely by the state. We should still have prisons just stop having private companies operate them.
Since when is it illegal to parody? I am sure its rude of course. But this is ridiculous and downright frightening to throw someone in jail for something they said. Reading that headline was a shocking moment. This is not a free society and the first amendment has been trampled with we have things such as this. have we lost all sanity?
The issue of whether somebody is a "public figure" affects libel lawsuits - if the principal were suing her, it might have some relevance.
This is a criminal case - the principal was alleging "harassment" or some similarly bogus charge.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
One of the many interesting things from this article is this paragrpah:
"The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that children have a constitutional right to counsel. But in Pennsylvania, as in at least 20 other states, children can waive counsel, and about half of the children that Judge Ciavarella sentenced had chosen to do so. Only Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina require juveniles to have representation when they appear before judges."
I'm surprised there was even an argument about juveniles having the right to legal representation and that the argument wasn't resolved by the Supreme Court until 1967.
You can almost guess how the prosecutors and/or judges got these kids to waive their right to an attorney: "If you get a lawyer it will look like you're guilty to the judge and that you have something to hide. So you'd be better off waiving your right to counsel."
Isn't this supposed to be a punishment?
Oh, don't you worry, I am. My goal is to have DAs (and judges with this type of attitude) shit themselves when they see my name listed as defense counsel.
However, when proactive protection of the innocent fails, crucifying judges like these is the next best thing.
(And yes, I do think they should be, literally, crucified. Saltire style. In front of Independence Hall. On national television.)
I smell a movie - where's Michael Mooore ?
Nullius in verba
I think any proposal to farm out a social enterprise to private interests is a very bad idea because the motives which create the impetus for the social structure are then changed -- and not for the better!
The justice system, the military, emergency services (fire, police), primary education, and the demonstrably even the medical system are all examples of structures which have been established in society for the mutual benefit of all. Most of these have been maintained in the public sector (would you really like to see a privatized police force in your locality?) because we all benefit from being able to grow up, live in peace, and raise our children -- hopefully without having to stress over whether we're going to be able to pay for them if/when disaster strikes.
When such institutions are privatized and commercialized and the profit motive takes over, suddenly the benefits to society and its individual members are no longer the overriding concern and the primary motive for providing the service. I'm not talking about the motivation of the individual service provider here; I'm talking about the motives which drive the people who direct, manage, and run the institution.
And when the bottom line becomes all-important, that's when an institution becomes callous and uncaring about the individuals who are dependent on the service that it provides and that's when the door of opportunity is kicked open for corrupt practices such as the ones we're reading about here.
(Mods: I'm really just posting here to reverse a mod accident, so please don't slam me too badly.)
licet differant, aequabitur
I'm not trying to be emo here, but I'd like to share a point of view. I commited some serious crimes, nothing as light as parody. BUT the Juvenile Correction Facilities I was sentenced to were no better then unregulated pow camps. I'd go to bed listening the screams of my fellows, Some deserved the tackle, others were merely pissed off and ended up pissing off the "counselor". And fyi, you don't need anything more then a high school degree to become a counselor, you take a few classes and your done. Sure, you can try to report abuses, but you run the risk of retaliation. My first visit to the "control room" still haunts me to this day. Getting your head slammed repeatedly into a cement floor with a wax finish isn't something your easily forget. The tiles probally still have my sweat stains, it took about a hour to subdue me. Roughly 5 guys, I was pretty messed up at that time. I'm not sure if this is the exception rather then the rule. I was at a nice facility before that, Less restricted. But I met others where chemical control was distributed because you refused to call someone sir. Coming out of that, i was completely messed up. It's taken years for me to recover, I'm still haunted by nightmares occasionally. So, next time you assume its all join a circle and share your feelings, consider the alternative.
Restore the madness of youth's lechery
The thirteenth amendment says:
People seem to forget that one of the big excuses for slavery throughout history has been that the slaves were criminals, sentenced to slavery for their crimes. Some of the time, it was even true. Mostly it was just a lie, unless you consider being captured by a raiding party to be a crime. So, after the thirteenth amendment, a lot of slave-labor dependent plantations re-opened as prison work camps, using former slaves sometimes arrested legitimately, but mostly not. Naturally all sorts of new laws were enacted effectively criminalizing being black in the south.
Prison chain gangs, although supposedly done away with in the 1950s, still exist in the US today, although generally only under mental cases like the megalomaniacal Sheriff Joe Arpaio who uses the disgustingly sadistic attitude many in the US have towards prisoners to keep getting elected. Supposedly, his chain gangs are voluntary, but of course, those who volunteer get special treatment. Since the standards of treatment are generally considered to be inhumane in his prison, that means that they get to choose between inhumane treatment or chain gang labor. Aside from chain gangs, in prisons overall, there is plenty of factory and service work being sold. The prisoners do get paid, but usually at very low rates, in some cases, as low as 40 cents an hour. In some cases it's voluntary (of course, in some prisons, you need the money to buy extra food to meet basic nutritional requirements), in others it is forced. They don't actually have whipping posts anymore that I'm aware of. Instead they just use standard prison punishments for misbehavior: loss of privileges, solitary confinement, extra time added to sentence, etc. As an example, rapper DMX is currently in the jail of the aforementioned Joe Arpaio and is currently in solitary confinement and on a diet of bread and water after a "verbal altercation" with guards after he refused to report for work. Now, whatever you may think of him as a person, and whatever excuses they can come up with that his punishment is for a "verbal altercation" rather than for refusing to work, I think it's pretty clear that the choices are work or be punished. The severity of the punishment in that case depends a bit on how long it lasts. Bread and water for a short time isn't a problem, if it lasts for months it will take years off your life as the body digests its own organs for nutrients.
So, in conclusion, there is officially sanctioned slave labor in the United States. It's also growing as an industry. Whether kickbacks like the ones in this case are the cause of the huge growth of the US prison population is unknown, but it is a possibility. Whether or not it's an ethical problem is a certainty.
Interesting angel, if a small bit sappy.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
*angle, keerist.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
"It is the sole duty of the operators of a commercial prison to maximize revenue for the shareholders."
No, no it's not. I was around back in the 70's and 80's when Ross Perot, T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn started spouting this crap, and they go laughed out of the room at first. Even Wharton business professors gave interviews saying those corporate raiders were out of their mind with that argument.
Pick up any macroeconomics textbook. The purpose of business is the efficient distribution of goods and services throughout society. It is in pursuit of that goal that private profit is justified.
Look at any corporate charter filed with the state. In each one, the explicit promise is made that if ou grant us the legal fiction of personhood, shield us from liability and offer us tax considerations, then we will benefit the people of this state.
Think about that. Why would We the People ever grant a corporate charter if the stated goal was "To have no other obligations other than making our owners rich?" Why would we agree to shield the owners from liability? Why would we grant that deal the legal fiction of personhood? Why would we agree to tax the owners at a lower rate then they could find in a partnership or sole proprietership?
A lot of kids respond to me these days, "Well, if we didn't, we wouldn't have businesses." Sure we would, but they would be partnerships, taxed at normal rates and liable in court for the damage they do.
I invite you to join me in correcting this dangerous PR line, that a corporation has no duty but to enrich the owners. A corporation's stated, admitted, confessed duty in black and white is to benefit the people of whatever state they were incorporated in. If the men behind that corporation want to pursue their own enrichment above all else, they are free to do so, but they must do so under the legal strictures of partnership, not corporation. They may then pursue as much profit as they wish, but they will be taxed at normal rates and be liable for their actions in court -- just like the rest of us.
As far as privately-run prisons, we used to have them in this country in the years between the Civil War and the Depression. They led to such horrors and scandals they were eventually outlawed. Unfortunately, like a lot of other cockroaches, they crawled back in during the Reagan years.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
February 12 Wilkes-Barre's "Time Leader" newspaper article:
"Limos, new suit part of $2.26M juvie costs eyed"
By Jennifer Learn-Andes
Luzerne County Reporter
The state has identified $2.26 million in questionable expenses at the western Pennsylvania juvenile detention center involved in Luzerne Countyâ(TM)s public corruption investigation, according to a draft audit obtained Wednesday.
Read more Luzerne County Judges articles
Those expenses include limousine rides to the King of Prussia Mall and NCAA basketball tournament, a fishing trip on Butler Township attorney Robert Powellâ(TM)s yacht and a $3,500 custom-made suit for former Hazleton Mayor Mike Marsicano, the audit said.
The state Department of Public Welfare launched the audit to determine if Western Pa. Child Careâ(TM)s costs were accurate and âoereasonableâ because those costs drive the amount of state reimbursement given to Luzerne County and other counties that lodge youth there.
Two Luzerne County judges â" Mark Ciavarella and Mike Conahan â" are set to plead guilty today for receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for favorable rulings and other actions that led to Luzerne Countyâ(TM)s use of Western PA Child Care and the PA Child Care detention center in Pittston Township.
In response to the findings, the state plans to reduce the facilityâ(TM)s allowable costs from $7.4 million to $6.1 million, which will reduce the daily rates that will be used for state reimbursement.
Construction costs also play a role in the reimbursement formula, and the state plans to knock $1 million off the recorded $14 million tab to finance the building.
The reason: The audit found that the facilityâ(TM)s owners â" Powell and Pittsburgh area attorney Greg Zappala â" withdrew $1 million of the construction loan proceeds as âoeconsulting feesâ paid to companies they owned. Half went to Powellâ(TM)s company, Vision Holdings Inc., and half went to Zappalaâ(TM)s company, Consulting Innovations and Services Inc., the audit said.
Zappala last year bought out Powellâ(TM)s ownership stake in Western PA Child Care.
Dan Fee, a spokesman for both juvenile facilities, said Zappala received the audit report after it was posted on media Web sites. He said Zappala will review the report and issue a public response in the near future.
Powell could not be reached for comment.
Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said the information in the audit is âoeshocking and indefensible.â
âoeHowever, itâ(TM)s marked draft, and the owners will have a chance to respond. These expenses, if charged to the state, are inexcusable,â Petrilla said.
Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he âoestrongly recommendsâ that federal authorities investigate the audit findings as part of the county corruption probe.
The $1 million in withdrawn construction proceeds was part of $2.26 million in questionable expenses.
The remaining $1.26 million in questioned costs were singled out because of lack of evidence that they were necessary, reasonable and competitively procured, the audit said.
According to the audit, those expenses include:
â $533,125 in unsupported âoeadministrative feesâ paid to the center owners.
â $202,746 in payments to individuals or companies connected to the owners for management services, rent, office expenses, legal expenses, marketing and employee background searches.
â Costs associated with meals, travel and staff vehicles that were not adequately supported with appropriate documentation.
â Reimbursement for golf outings and donations.
â $64,686 in mortgage interest paid on construction loan funds misidentified as consulting fees.
â $51,482 in interest paid on a line of credit. The state questioned the need for this credit when company funds were loaned interest-fr
I just wonder what the recidivism rates for these "harshly penalised" offenders are?
Anyone who has had any dealings with the juvenile justice system knows that they treat the offenders very, very softly. It takes many, many appearances before the court before they will be incarcerated. Far more so than for adult offenders.
All a kid learns from that is "the hot stove doesn't burn" and the offending behaviour is too ingrained for the kid to change and they continue to offend, often into adult life.
Perhaps "three strikes and you're in" is a good thing for juvenile offenders. Harsh penalties act as a deterrent. Maybe soft penalties act as an encouragement?
How much graffiti do you think you'd see if the kids who did it (and got caught) were sentenced to imprisonment for their third offence?
I'm not saying what these judges did is right; far from it, they sentenced on the basis of how much money they'd be getting, not on what was in the interests of justice. But, harsh penalties should be the norm, not the exception.
To quote Syrus (from his maxims). "Fear, not kindness, restrains the wicked."
February 13 article in Wilke-Barre's "Time Leader" newspaper:
Class action lawsuit filed against Ciavarella, Conahan, others
WILKES-BARRE - The first of what may be several class action lawsuits filed in response to the alleged juvenile detention scandal was filed in federal court late Thursday.
Two lawfirms - Cefalo & Associates of West Pittston and Caroselli, Beachler, McTiernan & Conboy in Pittsburgh - filed the lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of children and their families who were impacted by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.
Ciavarella, 58, and Conahan, 56, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to conspiring to impede the Internal Revenue Service in the collection of federal income taxes and with having devised a scheme to defraud the citizens of Luzerne County of their right to honest services, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Federal authorities alleged Ciavarella and Conahan accepted more than $2.6 million from January 2003 to April 2007 from the construction and operation of juvenile detention facilities, including PA Child Care in Pittston Township. They have agreed, according to federal court documents, to serve 87 months in federal prison.
According to a joint news release from the two law firms, the civil complaint alleged Ciavarella and Conahan - acting under the cloak of the court - willfully and knowingly engaged in racketeering activity and deprived the children of their civil rights.
"At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights were violated," Attorney Michael J. Cefalo said. "It's our intent to make sure that the system rights this terrible injustice and holds those responsible accountable."
In addition to Ciavarella and Conahan, the civil complaint lists defendants as:
Robert J. Powell, The Powell Law Group, P.C. in Butler Township, PA Child Care., LLC, Western PA Child Care, LLC, Robert K. Mericle, Mericle Construction, Inc., Gregory Zappala, Pinnacle Group of Jupiter, LLC, Barbara Conahan, Cindy Ciavarella, Beverage Marketing of PA, Inc., Vision Holdings, LLC, Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp., and an unnamed attorney.
The news release from the law firms alleges the defendants in the civil case participated in and benefitted from the criminal activity engaged by Ciavarella and Conahan. Powell allegedly conspired, according to the news release, with other defendants as far back as 2003 to arrange millions in payments to the judges and then further conspired to conceal the payments.
Powell also benefitted from the illegal activity, the news release from the law firms alleges.
"The one place our kids should absolutely feel safe is in our system of justice, but in this case, the system served injustice," Attorney William R. Caroselli said.
February 14 Wilkes-Barre's "Times Leader" newspaper article:
Conahan got cash from pension fund
Records show he withdrew $302,777 from pension account when he retired.
By Terrie Morgan-Besecker ... Law & Order Reporter
Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan withdrew $302,777 from his pension account when he retired in January 2008 â" an action that allowed him to retain nearly $94,000 in interest that might otherwise have been forfeited based on his guilty plea Thursday to federal charges, according to state pension laws.
Conahan opted to take the lump sum payment, which constituted $208,964, in contributions he made plus $93,812 in interest, in lieu of a higher monthly payment he would have been entitled to had he left the funds there, according to Robert Gentzel, spokesman for the State Employee Retirement System.
The action ensured Conahan collected the interest payments, which he would not have been entitled to recoup if he had pleaded guilty prior to his retirement and that plea resulted in the forfeiture of his pension, according to the stateâ(TM)s Pension Forfeiture Act.
That act states that any person convicted of a crime that is considered a âoeforfeitable offenseâ is entitled to recoup only the money he or she paid into the retirement system, Gentzel said. They cannot collect interest, which accrues at a rate of 4 percent annually.
That did not impact Conahan, however, because he retired on Jan. 15, 2008 â" just more than a year before the U.S. Attorneyâ(TM)s office filed fraud and tax charges against him and a co-defendant Judge Mark Ciavarella.
Conahan and Ciavarella pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of tax evasion and of defrauding the public of their honest services in connection with a more than $2.6 million kickback scheme.
In addition to the lump sum, Conahan has been receiving a monthly pension payment of $8,073.87 since his retirement. He would lose future payments if his guilty plea is ultimately deemed to be a forfeitable offense, but he would not be required to pay back the past monthly payments.
Thatâ(TM)s because forfeiture affects only money that is paid after a conviction has been obtained and the person has been officially sentenced, Gentzel said.
âoeThere is not a way we can reach back and recover prior payments. Forfeiture is prospective form the date of conviction,â he said.
The stateâ(TM)s forfeiture act requires the forfeiture of pension benefits for anyone convicted of certain crimes that âoebreach the memberâ(TM)s duty of faithful and honest public serviceâ if the crime was committed through the personâ(TM)s public office.
Given that definition, itâ(TM)s anticipated the offenses Conahan and Ciavarella committed will be considered forfeitable offenses. That determination has not been officially made yet, however.
Gentzel said the retirement system generally does not conduct that analysis until after a conviction has been obtained.
Conahan and Ciavarellaâ(TM)s plea agreements call for them to serve 87 months in prison and to pay an amount of restitution that has not yet been determined.
Federal forfeiture laws permit the government to seek a wide variety of assets, including pensions, to fulfill restitution orders. Whether Conahanâ(TM)s lump sum pension payment could be subject to forfeiture was not immediately clear Friday.
February 12 Wilkes-Barre's "Times Leader" newspaper article:
Judge picked to review Ciavarella juvenile cases
By Terrie Morgan-Besecker ... Law & Order Reporter
The state Supreme Court has appointed a senior Berks County judge to review potentially thousands of cases that were handled by Luzerne County juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarella dating back to 2003.
Read more Luzerne County Judges articles
In appointing Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim, the high court said it wanted to ensure a thorough review is conducted of all cases to determine whether a âoetravesty of juvenile justiceâ occurred under Ciavarellaâ(TM)s tenure, and, if so, to take whatever action is necessary to provide relief to the affected juveniles.
That relief could include holding new hearings, filing petitions to expunge their records or to vacate their adjudications entirely, the court said.
The court was prompted to act following the filing of criminal charges on Jan. 26 against Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan that alleged, in part, the judges profited from Ciavarellaâ(TM)s sentencing of juveniles to detention centers once owned by Butler Township attorney Robert Powell.
Ciavarella and Conahan are scheduled to plead guilty today to charges that they accepted more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the detention centers.
âoeWe are very pleased and applaud the court for taking the step of appointing a special master,â said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, the agency that filed the petition that led to the courtâ(TM)s action. âoeJudge Grim is an excellent choice. Theyâ(TM)ve granted him broad discretion to fashion relief for thousands of kids, which is a critically important step in the process.â
The law center asked the court to review Luzerne County cases after data showed that more than 50 percent of children who appeared before Ciavarella in 2005 and 2006 were not represented by an attorney. The countyâ(TM)s juvenile detention placement rate was also significantly higher than the state average.
The Supreme Courtâ(TM)s order directs Grim to identify juveniles who were not represented by an attorney and those who were committed to the Pa. Child Care and Western Pa Child Care detention centers. Grim will then recommend to the court whether a child should be granted a new hearing, or whether to grant a petition to expunge their record or vacate their adjudication.
In deciding whether to a recommend a new hearing, the court directed Grim to consider whether the youth is still subject to jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
Levick said she expects most cases will be resolved by filing petitions to expunge records, because the vast majority of affected youth are no longer under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll and Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski vowed they will provide âoecomplete cooperationâ to Grim. Muroski said arrangements have been made for Grim to occupy a chamber in the Penn Place building to ensure he has full access to all files he needs.
3 Reader Comments
D R Lunsford said...
This is epic sociopathy. A country where this can happen can't possibly live very long. Who knows what mountain of corruption in American justice underlies this tip of the iceberg? One looks at his neighbors and wonders - who are these people? What sort of country do I live in? Is anything real? Is there any level of depravity unexplored by modern Americans? -drl
February 12, 2009 at 4:36 AM
sunlight said...
clean their records? ha! get the check book out how about that?
February 12, 2009 at 6:38 AM
concerned resident said...
While I applaud the decision of the State Supreme Court in/re to reviewing previous sentencing of our county juvenilles, I am wondering: just where do the funds come from to cover Judge Arthur E. Grim's salary and related expenses for this project. Will Luzerne County be liable for any of these expenses?
February 12, 2009 at 12:43 PM
February 14 Wilkes-Barre's "Times Leader" newspaper
Juvie centers not target of ongoing probe
Letter from U.S. attorney to lawyers for juvenile centers states no indictments coming.
By Jennifer Learn-Andes ... Luzerne County Reporter
U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson has advised attorneys for PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care that their corporate clients are not the target of a corruption probe in Luzerne County and will not be indicted by a grand jury, according to letter sent to the attorneys.
The document was obtained Friday by The Times Leader. When contacted, Dan Fee, spokesman for the detention centers, confirmed that it was authentic.
Carlson declined to elaborate, saying he does not comment on âoeprivate correspondence.â
The brief Feb. 12 letter, addressed to attorney Donald J. Golberg of Ballard & Spall in Philadelphia, says:
âoeMy purpose in writing to you is to advise that your corporate clients, PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care, are not targets of the federal grand jury investigation into judicial corruption in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and, based upon the information before us, will not be indicted by the grand jury.â
Fee declined to comment on the letter.
The facilities, currently owned by Pittsburgh area attorney Greg Zappala, figured prominently in federal charges against former Luzerne County president judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.
The men pleaded guilty Thursday to tax evasion and devising a scheme to defraud the public of their honest services. Federal prosecutors say the men received more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for favorable rulings and actions that led to Luzerne Countyâ(TM)s use of both detention centers.
The federal charges detail payments made to the judges by two men, and one of them was indirectly identified as Butler Township attorney Robert Powell, who co-owned both centers with Zappala. Powell sold his shares in both centers to Zappala last year.
Powell has claimed through his lawyers that he âoenever offered to pay a single pennyâ to the judges and was instead a âoevictim of their demands for payment.â
The Western PA Child Care facility made headlines this week because a state welfare department audit identified $2.26 million in questionable expenses at the facility.
Those expenses include limousine rides to the King of Prussia Mall and NCAA basketball tournament, a fishing trip on Powellâ(TM)s yacht and a $3,500 custom-made suit for former Hazleton Mayor Mike Marsicano, the audit said.
The state Department of Public Welfare launched the audit to determine if Western PA Child Careâ(TM)s costs were accurate and âoereasonableâ because those costs drive how much state reimbursement is paid to counties for youths who are lodged there.
In response to the findings, the state plans to reduce the facilityâ(TM)s allowable costs from $7.4 million to $6.1 million, which will reduce the daily rates that will be used for state reimbursement.
Construction costs also play a role in the reimbursement formula, and the state plans to knock $1 million off the recorded $14 million tab to finance the building because the audit determined that Zappala and Powell withdrew $1 million of the construction loan proceeds as âoeconsulting feesâ paid to other companies they own.
Fee said Friday that Zappala is still reviewing the audit and will publicly comment in a few days.
The audit also questions Luzerne Countyâ(TM)s decision to reserve nine emergency shelter beds at the Western PA Child Care facility, resulting in the countyâ(TM)s payment of $73,920 for beds that were never used by county youth.
Commissioners did not renew that contract last year, and county Acting Probation Services Director Mike Vecchio said the county has not sent youth to the facility since April 2008.
According to the county controllerâ(TM)s office, the c
Other newspaper articles - many related to this matter - have links at this page:
http://www.timesleader.com/news/hottopics/judges
This judge should be horse whipped for violating the civil rights of an American Citizen.
Firstly, the principle is a public figure. Secondly, parody is protected speech. Thirdly, any American citizen has the right to freedom of the press with no restrictions. It is a constitutional guarantee.
More than likely this judge gets a kickback for everyone they lock up, the same as those other judges.
We need to preemptively investigate and prosecute every judge that has taken a single red cent in kickbacks.
Anyone who is such a traitor to the constitution deserves to be hung from the neck until they are dead, if found guilty by a jury. Hopefully a jury made up of members of the community they have harmed.
It'd be much worse to send them to a federal prison, but not grant them any extra protections when inside... you know, let the populace deal with them
"It's the Law of the Universe, and I'm the sheriff." Slash-cott 2/10-2/17
Judge D. Lowell Jensen of the Federal Court of Northern California sentenced me to nine years in Federal prison (this was back in 1993).
Guess what? I'm sitting in the Federal Transit Center in Dublin, California, when another inmate clues me in on the INSLAW scandal, where the Justice Department defrauded a case management database software company, nearly driving them to bankruptcy, so they could steal the software and sell it all over the place.
Turns out my judge was involved in that when he was at the DoJ and was rewarded with a Federal judgeship as a result of his corruption.
In other words, my judge should have been in Federal prison right next to me, according to the opinion of two Federal judges who looked at the INSLAW case and concluded there was clear evidence of DoJ fraud.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
For years I've said that prior to being allowed to sit on the bench, a judge should have to spend a week in jail. How can one "fairly" give out punishment when they have no idea what said punishment is like?
Wow!
A corrupt Federal Judge.
Imagine that!
Guess this Judge, should have payed more attention to Hon. Mr. John Roberts.
Then again, perhaps no.
In as short as 24 months there could be a gallos errected on the Capital Mall.
And on the platform, will stand the Hon. Mr. John Roberts, Fmr Supreme Court Head Justice.
Having faced an international war crimes trial, the Hon. Mr. John Roberts was found guilty on all charges, steming from the Fmr President George Walker Bush's "War of Terror." The charges included and were not limited to, Wire Fraud, Extortion, Murder, Kidnapping, Impersonation of a Federal Official, Grand Theft, Abdication of the US Constitution and Abdication of all States Constitutions, and Abdication of All States Laws, and Abdication all international laws and Treaties.
During the trial, Fmr President Geroge Walker Bush was shot dead by Mr. Richard Cheney.
What a lot!
On the faitful day on the Capital Mall, 24 months from now, the Hon. Mr. John Roberts will be seen trembiling, sweating buckets, shitting-pissing in his pants, and crying.
Perhaps he, in his last ignominous moments of his ignominious life, will think back, back to his youth, of shop-lifting, of raping school girls and boys, of being a bully.
And then, as the platform falls, the rope tightens round his neck to break, the Hon. Mr. John Roberts will think back to 01-20-2009, when he chocked on the "Oath of Office" in his "service to the new President," Mr. Barak Obama; shall we say, a Fruadian Slip.
C'mon, binding/imprisoning people for profit?
And they said slavery was dead.
Just go to the middle east and how much. You will have your slave in a matter of days. The african continent has been perfecting the slavery market for 500 years or more.
You can also go to parts of the old USSR and find yourself a slave though usually female only are of value. They are still working out the kinks. They will probably have to go to africa or find an arab to figure out how to do slavery efficiently.
Slavery has been around since the dawn of time and every race and culture known has engaged in it (either buying or selling or both)
commercially operated juvenile detention center
It is truly sad to see how judges and police in the States are willing - eager, even - to squash the lives of a young person who has done something stupid. There is definitely something wrong with the minds of people like that. But what really startled me was the phrase "commercially operated juvenile detention center"; to me that sounds like something out of a medieval horror movie - in effect, a company that on one hand receives public funding, and on the other hand has access to slave labour. I can't begin to express how deeply that disgusts me.
You're forgetting
4.99) No ???
Whoever said slavery is dead?
You must be one of those MBA people who think unpaid mandatory overtime is a good thing since that's when you're at a tropical "retreat" doing "team building" while sipping drinks with umbrellas. Or at a trade show where you've hired a model to stand next to a product and pretend to be interested in your gizmo she doesn't understand.
We programmers do the mandatory overtime locked in dungeons where our only reward is free low budget coffee.
and all other shows like that? i mean, this is MYSPACE for christs sake. at least that grrls gonna get rich. get out and SUE! unjust sentencing n all that.
that judge shouldnt be on the bench after he ADMITTED that lil get rich quick scheme.
"Equal justice" would be giving the judges the combined sentences of everyone they unfairly sentenced. Save voter fraud and treason, this seems the greatest possible corruption of our government.
Was anyone else reading this article reminded of 'Sunlight Gardener's Home For Wayward Boys' from 'The Talisman'?
In Stephen King's book, the lead character and his friend are picked up by the cops for no other reason than walking through their town, and then the Judge sends him off to the 'home' to be 'rehabilitated'.
The Judge and the cops get a kickback from the home, and it's clear that there are many boys there who don't belong there... Just like this story.
I was kinda hoping this was more fictitious than fact, but I guess this story shows it does indeed happen. Sad.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."