WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.

In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers. 

“I’ve never encountered, and I don’t think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids’ lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money,” said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.

Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.

No company officials have been charged, but the investigation is still going on.

The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles’ records expunged.

Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.

Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.

'I have disgraced my judgeship'
The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud Thursday in federal court. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years behind bars.

Ciavarella, 58, who presided over Luzerne County’s juvenile court for 12 years, acknowledged last week in a letter to his former colleagues, “I have disgraced my judgeship. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame.” Ciavarella, though, has denied he got kickbacks for sending youths to prison.

Conahan, 56, has remained silent about the case.

Many Pennsylvania counties contract with privately run juvenile detention centers, paying them either a fixed overall fee or a certain amount per youth, per day. 

It is a sad truth that children are the target of various crimes. In prisons across the world, those convicted of these sick crimes lead a hard life, and deservedly so! In prison there are rules among convicted felons! Children, women, and the elderly are off limits. Rapists and molesters (child) in prison are fair game! Even among criminals there is that much morality and compassion to at least have that much of a limit on crimes.

Now our children are not even safe in the hands of our Judicial System. The two judges (See "Your Children Are for Sale") did not molest or rape these children, but their crime has no less of an impact on the children they sold! It does not matter if their records are expunged or not, the damage has been done. These kids will never trust the system that is there for their protection. They have been exposed to life inside prison that can never be prepared. I am a prisoner, I know first hand the effect this life has.

The difference between me and those children is that I committed a serious offense, was given the constitutional rights that I was sue, and deserve to be in prison for some time. These children were not! Their rights, trust, dependence, livelihood, and future were sold to the highest bidder! Even terrorists are afforded more rights than these United States juvenile citizens! It is my opinion that the two judges as well as every member involved in this conspiracy should get the exact amount of time that the two judges collectively passed out for years! If all those sentences added up to hundreds of years, then so be it! They all deserve to die in prison for ruining the lives that they did. A convicted molester (child) gets seven years in prison for one child, they ruined thousands!

This is the very reason that privately owned prisons should be banned! Prison is a place of confinement until the prisoner is made ready to live productively in society. Private corporations owning prisons invites this type of behavior! Your tax dollar is what pays for companies such as the Geo-Group to house Virginia Prisoners. (Lawrenceville Corr. Center in Brunswick County) These companies only profit by staying at full capacity and cutting cost. When cost cutting comes into play it means on rehabilitation programs, food, medical and mental health services and so on! The prisoner is warehoused. These days, especially in Virginia, either the service provided in the prisons, or the prison itself is privately owned. Meanwhile, the state's legislators use your money to build more and more prisons. More tax dollars are used to build prisons than to upgrade schools, medicaid, or Homeland Security. Each prison built post 1995, Red Onion, Wallen Ridges, Sussex 1, Sussex 2, Lawrenceville, Green Rock, Pocohantas, and Independence are equipped with climate controlled units. 

Meanwhile, your children are sent home from school due to it being to hot. So, $800 million dollar prisons were built that hold about 10,000 prisoners who are comfortable year round while kids cannot be taught and teachers cannot be paid. Add $25 million dollars to operate each Va. Prison and you have to see that all that money being spent is for a reason.  You are told it is to clean up society and keep you safe. Crime will always exist, and with the money the way it is, crime will rise very high this year. By election time each candidate will use this tough on crime act to continue this trend at your expense.

What society does not see or know is that corporations such as The Keefe Group, Aramark, Canteen Corrections, The Geo-Group, and so on are padding campaign funds to help secure their future. This has been going on for years. It may not be illegal but it is immoral.

Private corporations have such a large stake in Virginia's correctional industry that they have to be sure to have someone on their side. If it is not clear to you by the article (See "Your Children Are for Sale") of these two judges getting paid off to fill two private prisons with children that these type of companies will give money to pass legislation that is in their favor, policy that is in their favor, or to secure the bid on the prison being built in your backyard pretty soon, then I do not know what to say.

The bottom line is this, your tax dollars are supposed to be spent on rehabilitating a prisoner to the point where they are ready to be your neighbor. It is instead, being spent to warehouse prisoners until released when they are pushed out the door with the expectations of returning (by the Correction/Corporations industry.) In reality, you are funding the crimes against you and the rest of society. This not only takes place in Virginia, but also in many other states that have turned their prison systems into a money racket where politicians and big corporations are not the first or last, the rest just have not yet been caught.

Until the tax payers in Virginia and the other states say enough is enough, it will continue. The entire prison system, and the laws that fill them need to be overhauled. Virginia has over 50 institutions, and politicians want more! If they spent half of that money in real rehabilitation programs and re-entry programs they would not be able to fill the ones that they have now. But there is no money in that. Prisons are like medical practices, the real money is in treatment, not the cure.

This is where we stand, until you put these issues in the faces of those in charge and demand change! It's your money being spent, you have a right to say how. Unless you want it swept under the rug for another 3 years, bring these issues to light now, election time will be here soon.