A Pennsylvania judge received a 30-year in prison sentence after his conviction for scheming with private prison officials to jail thousands of innocent juveniles in return for more than $1 million in kickbacks.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned more than 4,000 convictions handed down by Judge Mark Ciavarella, 61, who engineered the scheme between the years 2003 through 2008 in exchange for the under-the-table payments.
Some of Ciavarella’s victims were as young as 10-years-old, according to authorities, who added that all of his victims, subjected to constitutional violations that ranged from the right to legal counsel to the right to intelligently enter a plea.
In all, the Supreme Court convicted Ciavarella on 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, and tax evasion in a case now known as the “cash for kid’s scandal.” And ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution.
Over the years, the veteran judge developed a reputation as a harsh, no-nonsense arbitrator who always seemed to be overly rigid in his sentencing. In one instance, a mother whose son, a high school honor-roll student, confronted Ciavarella for the unjust sentencing of her son, who later took his own life while incarcerated.
Yet, at sentencing, Ciavarella stood, flanked by his lawyers, pleading for mercy and asking for a “reasonable” sentence based on the argument that the virtue of his conviction and fall from grace was punishment enough.
Throughout trial, prosecutors argued it was Ciavarella and fellow judge Michael Conahan who most profited from the scheme, taking more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers. In all, those charged in connection with the scheme includes, 30 officials, including two other judges and a former state senator.
"In essence, Mr. Ciavarella's argument is, 'I was not selling kids’ retail,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon A.D. Zubrod said. “We agree with that. He was selling them wholesale."
Minutes later, U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik slammed Ciavarella with what’s thought to be the longest federal prison sentence ever given in a U.S. political corruption case. Two years earlier, Kosik rejected a guilty-plea deal that prosecutors struck with Ciavarella and his chief coconspirator that would have netted each man just seven years behind bars. Feeling that neither man was remorseful enough, Kosik ripped that agreement to shreds.
Following this latest verdict, lawyers for Ciavarella pledged to appeal, arguing that it violates the Constitution’s ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. Even with time off for good behavior, they maintained, Ciavarella is likely facing at least a quarter-century in prison.
All day long, still stunned family members and friends of some of those wrongly imprisoned over the years, shuffled back and forth in the courtroom, many of them wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the words: "How much is your child worth?" But even more than the words, the looks on their faces told you what real injustice looks like.