Thanks to commenter Ben Cisco for this:
SCRANTON, Pa. — A longtime northeastern Pennsylvania judge was ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive juvenile justice bribery scandal that prompted the state’s high court to toss thousands of convictions.
Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in federal prison for taking $1 million in bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as “kids for cash.”
Ciavarella was motionless when the decision was announced and had no reaction. From behind him, where family members of some of the children he sentenced sat, someone cried out “Woo hoo!”
Ciavarella, speaking before the sentence was handed down, apologized to the community and to those juveniles that appeared before him in his court. “I blame no one but myself for what happened,” he said, and then denied he had ever incarcerated any juveniles in exchange for money.
No one but myself, oh, and this other guy, also:
He also criticized U.S. Assistant Attorney Gordon Zubrod for referring to the case as “kids for cash,” and said it sank his reputation. “He backdoored me, and I never saw it coming. Those three words made me the personification of evil,” Ciavarella said. “They made me toxic and caused a public uproar the likes of which this community has never seen.”
If he doesn’t know what actually sank his reputation by now, I give up.
Zubrod said that Ciavarella had “verbally abused and cruelly mocked children he sent away after violating their rights.” He called the ex-judge “vicious and mean-spirited” in asking U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik for a life sentence. Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities’ co-owner.
Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanor, filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes.
As young as 10.
Cat Lady
The only thing better would be if they let all of the kids he sent away taunt him and throw shit at him every day left of his miserable life.
EdTheRed
I think Joe Strummer put it best:
“There ain’t no need for ya
Go straight to hell boys”
Roger Moore
Let me guess, this guy is a Republican who campaigned on getting tough on crime. Personal responsibility: how the fuck does it work?
Constance
Personification of evil seems about right to me. How many lives destroyed there?
Corner Stone
He destroyed so many children, and their families. Just reading the snips that came out over the last couple years (?), this guy deserves to serve every day of his sentence.
I wonder about restitution for the children?
kay
@Cat Lady:
I think it’s good some of them saw the sentencing. He got a real hearing, which is way more process than he gave his victims. The “hearings” were 5 or 10 minutes long in his cases. Just a formality prior to shipping them off.
Peter
It made me think of this:
“Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law”
“But Nichols wasn’t buying. He asked them how would they possibly keep a prison full for years — decades even — with illegal immigrants?
“They talked like they didn’t have any doubt they could fill it,” Nichols said.
That’s because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona’s immigration law.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741
Maude
@kay:
The children who were harmed by this judicial monster got to see him pay for his crimes.
geg6
Well, good for him. This motherfucker has ruined so many lives. There is no way he can be punished enough. I hope that bastard rots in prison. This is a huge embarrassment and shame to the entire Commonwealth.
Derf
Can always count on getting my fix of gloom porn at baboon juice where there isn’t anything gloomy enough going on in politics or the economy to talk about.
Next story will be a nun stealing church donations from little old ladies to buy crack. Or maybe a story on baby showers in Somalia where the most popular gifts are guns and RPG’s.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Any word on whether his victims have filed a civil suit? His assets should be liquidated and shared out. Along with bits of his scalp.
kay
@Maude:
He’s bad, but there’s responsibility to go around. There were several juvenile judges in that court, and they weren’t all doing this. Courts are gossipy. I’m wondering why it took so long to nail him. Appeals on process violations, etc.
Maybe it’s unfair, and I of course don’t have perfect information, but I do wonder about that. I think it would be wise to take a look at all the players in this drama.
Zifnab
Cheers to this. Although, honestly, I’m curious as to whether the guys cutting him the checks got equal sentences. They should burn that child prison to the ground, while they’re out and about locking up crocked justices.
dpCap
IOKITB (It’s ok if they’re black)…
:(
Comrade Dread
You know, we could probably save lots of tax dollars if we privatized this jackhole’s prison care to a company that outsourced him to Saudi Arabia.
I think this is a case where a free market solution might work.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
“I’m sorry if it offended you that I was getting paid to ruin children’s lives.”
Bettencourt
Derf, I don’t see how you can call this Gloom Porn; his sentencing is possibly the best piece of news I’ve read on this site in years.
Corner Stone
@dpCap: The kids he sentenced or denied process to were majority black? Or this happens all the time elsewhere and no one says peep about it because it’s mainly to blacks?
TenguPhule
Please let this former judge’s identity be leaked to the general population of whatever facility he’s housed in.
Sometimes Karma needs a little helping hand.
Bill F
Was this the same guy in Capitalism: A Love Story? Also the last line made me think of The Big Lebowski: “ten year olds Dude”
Corner Stone
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
“I’m sorry that I never expected someone to describe me selling childrens’ futures for payments in kind as ‘kids for cash’.”
Snarkworth
@Roger Moore:
Not sure of his party, but most officeholders in Luzerne County are old-school machine type Democrats. He had a lot of support at first, what with “getting tough” on these young punks.
Most of the parents didn’t have the resources or sophistication to counter him, and local media (which should have raised holy heck about this guy) is worthless.
NonyNony
@Bettencourt:
It’s freD – I’m just assuming that he’s got a list of pithy gloom-and-doom accusations in a notepad window and he randomly posts them in the comments section of stories hoping to get a nibble of a response.
That said, at least freD is trying something new with his trolling. Most of the trolls we get around here are a sad, sorry lot. freD is attempting to stretch into some new territory – he should be less lazy about it though and actually, you know, read the posts before the cut-and-paste.
TenguPhule
Oh there’s Poop boy.
I assume he was weeping yesterday about all the money he pooped out on a dead cat bounce.
As they say fools, money, magnetic repulsion.
Roger Moore
@Derf:
Tiresome troll is tiresome.
Southern Beale
Mitt Romney: “Corporations are people, my friend.”
And the crowd laughs … Well, this will be a fun soundbite.
kay
@dpCap:
If you read the accounts, the main problem was their parents (reasonably) didn’t think they needed a vigorous defense, because these were petty crimes or first offenders. A lot of times parents see value in the child admitting guilt or taking responsibility, and the juvenile system is deliberately different than the adult criminal system: it’s (supposed to be) predicated on rehab and restitution, not punishment. That’s the stated aim. They made the mistake of trusting a judge, in other words. They were shocked when the kids were shipped, and then they retained counsel. So just vulnerable people all around, and him with all the power.
A Humble Lurker
Good. Fucking. Riddance.
dpCap
@Corner Stone:
The latter. I have no idea if they were black though I do suspect that they were mostly urban poor (thus less likely to appeal the rulings and challenge him.)
EDIT: Kay explained it even better than I did. Thanx for making me sound smarter than I am. :-[
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Seriously, check out his wikipage.
The difference between this maggot and a baby raping priest who doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about? Ciavarella doesn’t wear his collar backwards.
LOLs:
http://citizensvoice.com/ciavarella-sentenced-to-28-years-in-prison-1.1187339#axzz1Uk6Z3ZN9
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@TenguPhule: And yet, he keeps coming back, and then leaves a trail of idiotic statements like that one.
rb
Jesus Christ. More evidence that Biden was right; Scranton really is hell on earth.
Kidding aside, good on the prosecution for getting their man, albeit 25ish years too late.
Consider a phrase that should be a textbook oxymoron: “children’s prison.” Now add “private.” WTF kind of person would want to have anything to do with that sort of “business model?”
Bulworth
Yeah but you guys hurt my feelings and ruined my rep for calling it cash for kids..kids for cash or whatever.
//
Cat Lady
This whole story is like something out of Dickens. Ciaverella even looks like the warden from Shawshank Redemption. There’s a movie in this for some enterprising screenwriter wannabe.
Mojotron
1) I think he’s a Democrat, and 2) I think most of his victims were actually white (the kid who committed suicide was).
Maude
@efgoldman:
At least they weren’t transported to Oz like back in the day.
What an awful man.
Martin
@rb:
I think ‘Republican’ is the word you’re looking for.
quaker in a basement
Excellent! No excuse making that the judge “was otherwise a credit to the community, poses no threat to himself or others, harrumpf, harruumpf…community service…blah, blah.”
The bastard sold children to a prison. Thirty years! And I hope he serves every single day of it.
hueyplong
I can see Mittens on the stretcher, screaming as they carry him off, “Soylent Green is corporatons!”
huckster
it doesn’t matter which party he’s from, he’s still a sick fuck who deserved a lot worse than what he got. And frankly, if he didn’t do it for the money, he is a sick fuck.
srv
In Texas, they’d give this guy a medal.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
In case you need a reason to contribute to Wikipedia, his page now starts:
Derf
@Roger Moore: Hey Roger, so glad you took time out of your busy day to comment. Obviously what I think holds considerable weight with you. I appreciate the compliment. As always, I am happy to hear from my groupies and their obsessions with me.
Villago Delenda Est
This asshole got off lightly, I think.
A slow death would have been more just.
Derf
@Bettencourt: Corrupt judge poisoning the justice system on the backs of children. Only to display more contempt in his sentencing.
But hey, he got caught and convicted so you are absolutely right Bettencourt. This story just fills my heart and soul with sunshine.
gex
@Martin: Libertarian would work as well.
ETA: Talking about the businessman on the other side of the deal, not the judge.
jrg
Yep. The fact that you were ruining children’s lives for money had nothing to do with it. What a fucking scumbag. I hope his time in prison is a living nightmare.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
A thousand years of torture wouldn’t be enough for this chunk of filth to pay for his crimes. I only take comfort in the fact that he’ll never live out his sentence, and I look forward to the day Ciavarella is found ripped inside out from his asshole in the prison laundry room.
pdf
There was an episode of Leverage about this guy.
The Ancient Randonneur
So Gordon Gekko in a judicial robe finally got what was coming to him.
Mark S.
I bet he’s going to be really popular in prison, especially when the other inmates find out why he’s there.
h.rumpole
Shave him, duct tape his hands to his ankles, and leave him in the middle of D block.
EconWatcher
I don’t think any of the punishment options available to a U.S. federal judge are actually quite adequate for this case.
Kathy in St. Louis
If, as someone above said, he’s a democrat, then I wish he’d been given life with the possibility of being roasted over an open fire on a turning spit. God only knows how many lives he ruined in the course of this debacle. Makes no difference if they were white or black. In either case, it’s a safe bet that they were from families who were unsophisticated about the law, or too poor to get a lawyer. I have to wonder about the entire juvenile justice setup in his area if no one put up a fuss about this, informed higher authorities for years on end, or just beat the guy up over this matter. Others had to be aware of this for it to continue long enough for him to make a million dollars off the deal.
secondlaws
Some aspects of the judge’s comments reported in the linked article are oddly disconnected, contradictory, and inconsistent – that evidence along with some of his reported personality “quirks” are suggestive of early-onset Alzheimer’s. When justice goes wrong….? In any case, there should have been a way to get this demented SOB out of the courtroom much sooner, before he negatively impacted all those young lives. Tragic.
Roger Moore
@Derf:
Coming from somebody who only stops by to trash our bloghost without actually making substantive comments on the stories, that’s really meaningful. Please continue to shit on the blog without adding any value.
Paul in KY
@Derf: It’s only ‘gloom porn’ if you ID with the POS judge.
But some dumbass named ‘Derf’ oughta know that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So pretty much they were poor child criminals, child criminals are one of those groups were it is socially acceptable to exploit. Makes you wonder how much more child abuse like this is out there in our judicial system.
Derf
@Roger Moore: So to make your point you trash someone without making substantive comments on the story. Hypocrisy always works.
punkdavid
Peak asshole was a lie.
Derf
@Paul in KY: How did you know I was a corrupt judge taking bribes from builders of juvenile detention centers? Your intuition is spooky good.
Sly
@Constance:
No way to be entirely sure. There was a report done by a judge from a neighboring county, appointed by the state to review the cases, indicating that all of the verdicts issued by Ciaverella were questionable. The state agreed with his report, and all of his rulings were vacated: around 6,500 cases affecting 4,000 individual juveniles.
@Villago Delenda Est:
There are two things you never, ever, ever, ever want to go to prison for: killing or otherwise assaulting a cop, or messing with kids in any way. This guy is not going to have a happy 28 years by any stretch of the imagination, if he even lasts that long.
Joseph Nobles
@punkdavid:
The technology to extract assholery from more inaccessable places just gets better over time.
Citizen_X
No, asshole. Your actions made you the personification of evil.
El Tiburon
I hope he gets fucked in the face.
Suffern ACE
Wow. I was just thinking about this case the other week as I hadn’t gone looking for a status update for awhile. I still don’t know why this was allowed to go on for so long, except he probably chose his victims wisely from the classes of people that serious people don’t like to listen to. Very happy with this outcome.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Ha, yes. I suspect someone spent the day poised over his keyboard, waiting to enter that.
Serioulsy, I write abuot fraud (although a specific and boring kind) and his antics made my eyes pop.
numbskull
@Bettencourt: Ya gotta consider the source. Derf’s upset that he didn’t get a cut before it all came crashing down.
Arclite
First, Ciavarella. THEN Rumsfeld, Bush 43, and John Yoo! WOO HOO!
rikryah
for the lives he destroyed, may he burn in hell
Gretchen
Aged 10? Are you kidding me? 28 years is exponentially too little for that. Keep him alive for 1000 years!
DFH no.6
“Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses?”
Don’t care if this asshole judge is a Democrat or not – prisons-for-profit is one more evil conservative concept springing from the conservative mindset that Ebenezer Scrooge (pre-Christmas ghosts) so memorably evinced.
IGMFY is the bedrock foundation of the conservative worldview; everything else (including exploiting the vulnerable for personal gain) in that house of horrors is built upon it.
RobNYNY1957
According to Wikipedia, Luzerne County is over 90% white, for whatever that is worth. I don’t think it matters very much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerne_County,_Pennsylvania#Demographics
Arclite
@Corner Stone:
Civil suit?
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Arclite: There is a civil suit in the works.
Paul in KY
@Derf: I figured there must be more than one. Seems like the hip business for corrupt judges to ‘get in on the ground floor’.
rea
The sad thing is, there are judges who rule just like this guy, without the excuse of doing it for the money. Hell, the fact that he only did it for the money ought to be a point in his favor, really.
ppcli
No, it was your decision to act in a way that personifies evil that made you the personification of evil. The DA merely described it.
asiangrrlMN
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
I’m now madly in love with US Assistant Attorney Zubrod. He’s righteous.
As for this POS, he got what he deserved.
Brachiator
@Suffern ACE:
Yep. It wasn’t about race, and it wasn’t that this guy was a Republican. It was about a slimeball with authority looking for the most vulnerable people he could find, to exploit for gain, with no regard for them whatsoever.
Ben Cisco
Wow! A h/t! Thanks!
The Other Chuck
The corporation that ran the prisons? Still around, are they? Did any of them see any consequences?
Angela
So what happened to the builder for tampering with the legal system and giving bribes?
Gus diZerega
We need a political and economic system that does not give the competitive edge to sociopaths, which this creep obviously is.
Angela
@The Other Chuck: I googled the builder – Mericle – appears to be still going strong, they admitted to the bribe, plea bargained and this – Mr. Mericle remains free pending his sentencing, which has been postponed until after the Ciavarella trial. As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Mericle has placed $2.15 million in an escrow account that would be distributed to local organizations that aid children after he has been sentenced.
Tom_23
Wasn’t this one of the featured stories in Capitalism, A Love Story of Michael Moore fame?
Nutella
Classic white collar criminal: He’s committed a particularly disgusting crime many times over and he’s all indignant that the prosecutor was not sufficiently respectful.
John Puma
Given the prison-industrial complex, this pig must represent the mere tip of the iceberg.
When do we go after the rest^
Ash Can
My only disappointment here is that 28 years seems like a very light sentence under the circumstances, and may not be enough to keep him locked up for the rest of his life. On the other hand, Jeffrey Dahmer didn’t need 28 years, so there’s hope.
Neo
@Roger Moore:
Both judges are Democrats
rea
My only disappointment here is that 28 years seems like a very light sentence under the circumstances, and may not be enough to keep him locked up for the rest of his life.
He’s 61 years old, so he’ll be 89 if and when he completes his sentence. Not much time off for good behavior in the federal system . . .
RobNYNY1957
It’s about 2.5 days for each one of the 4000 children affected. Seems pretty light.
Gustopher
Well, I think it’s a bit light for what he did. I hope the other inmates beat him to within an inch of his life on a regular basis.
Give him a long life of pain and suffering. He deserves it.
JGabriel
@Neo:
.
RSA
From the article:
What a laughable equivalence.
JGabriel
Neo:
Bullshit. They’re elected judges. They cross-filed and ran for office under BOTH party lines, Democratic and Republican — which is very common in Pennsylvania judicial races.
(Edited to Add: Could a moderator please delete my post at #96, which has formatting errors that FYWP wouldn’t let me correct.)
.
El Cid
Sure, everyone wants to talk about all the bad things the judge did.
Why do we never want to talk about all the good things he did?
He was a job creator!
drkrick
@RSA:
That’s interesting. Years in prison for a 10 year old shoplifter was supposed to be appropriate, but some embarrassment is enough of a price for taking a bribe to do it 4000 times over.
I understand the need for even the most repellant defendant to get a competent defense, but the advocate who could file that brief really out to be shunned out of the business.
Ash Can
@rea: That’s still not long enough to ensure that he’ll die in the stir. I don’t like the idea of someone like that walking free at all.
Kathy in St. Louis
[email protected] Well said. The irony of “he’s been punished enough” cannot be lost on the families of those kids who ended up with jail sentences. If that were the case, then the kids names’ should have been punished in the newspapers, their schools should have been notified of their actions, and they should have been sent home. They would have been “punished enough” for their crimes.
The more that one sees lawyers on television and reads about their defenses of their clients, the harder it is to think very highly of the profession. At least prostitutes don’t wear $2000 suits and have $500 haircuts, for the most part.
MikeJake
The best part of all this? He was offered a plea bargain for 7 years, but the judge rejected it because he refused to admit that he received the money as a quid pro quo for delivering up the kids. He maintained that it was merely a “finder’s fee” from the juvenile facility owners.
Such arrogance.
Conway193
Felonious Judge Mark Ciavarella should be thrown into general population so he can enjoy having his capped teeth knocked out of his head by the tattooed fists of angry triple lifers with nothing to lose. Then he can look forward to pulling a train with a horny quartet of hairy, musclebound jailhouse queers, while guards sit back and laugh at his misfortune.
JGabriel
MikeJake:
Ciavarella would have gotten much more support from conservatives if only he’d called it a job creator’s fee.
.
nota bene
re: restitution for the victims….via his wiki page:
He’s still fighting for his pension. He still can’t bring himself to concede that he did anything wrong. What are you gonna do with that $5K a month while you’re in the Big House, you rotten SOB?
@ #100–this guy’s lawyers are not doing themselves any favors.
WaterGirl
@Cat Lady:
I’m late to the thread, but…
I have already seen this exact plot on a TV show – seems like 2 or 3 years ago. I can’t remember which show.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Cat Lady:
Can’t get all of them, since what he did drove at least one to suicide.
I have teenage boys, and the rage I have for this man will not subside.
Cacti
@nota bene:
Pay for protection from the other inmates.