Kids jailed for profit?

[Kuya]

Truthdig - Jailing Kids for Cash
By Amy Goodman

As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding. Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States.

Take the story of Jamie Quinn. When she was 14 years old, she was imprisoned for almost a year. Jamie, now 18, described the incident that led to her incarceration:

“I got into an argument with one of my friends. And all that happened was just a basic fight. She slapped me in the face, and I did the same thing back. There [were] no marks, no witnesses, nothing. It was just her word against my word.”

Jamie was placed in one of the two controversial facilities, PA Child Care, then bounced around to several other locations. The 11-month imprisonment had a devastating impact on her. She told me: “People looked at me different when I came out, thought I was a bad person, because I was gone for so long. My family started splitting up ... because I was away and got locked up. I’m still struggling in school, because the schooling system in facilities like these places [are] just horrible.”

She began cutting herself, blaming medication that she was forced to take: “I was never depressed, I was never put on meds before. I went there, and they just started putting meds on me, and I didn’t even know what they were. They said if I didn’t take them, I wasn’t following my program.” She was hospitalized three times.

Jamie Quinn is just one of thousands that these two corrupt judges locked up. The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center got involved when Hillary Transue was sent away for three months for posting a Web site parodying the assistant principal at her school. Hillary clearly marked the Web page as a joke. The assistant principal didn’t find it funny, apparently, and Hillary faced the notoriously harsh Judge Ciavarella.

As Bob Schwartz of the Juvenile Law Center told me: “Hillary had, unknown to her, signed a paper, her mother had signed a paper, giving up her right to a lawyer. That made the 90-second hearing that she had in front of Judge Ciavarella pretty much of a kangaroo court.” The JLC found that in half of the juvenile cases in Luzerne County, defendants had waived their right to an attorney. Judge Ciavarella repeatedly ignored recommendations for leniency from both prosecutors and probation officers. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard the JLC’s case, then the FBI began an investigation, which resulted in the two judges entering guilty-plea agreements last week for tax evasion and wire fraud.

They are expected to serve seven years in federal prison. Two separate class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the imprisoned children.

This scandal involves just one county in the U.S., and one relatively small private prison company. According to The Sentencing Project, “the United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.1 million people currently in the nation’s prisons or jails—a 500 percent increase over the past thirty years.” The Wall Street Journal reports that “[p]rison companies are preparing for a wave of new business as the economic downturn makes it increasingly difficult for federal and state government officials to build and operate their own jails.” For-profit prison companies like the Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) are positioned for increased profits. It is still not clear what impact the just-signed stimulus bill will have on the private prison industry (for example, the bill contains $800 million for prison construction, yet billions for school construction were cut out).

Congress is considering legislation to improve juvenile justice policy, legislation the American Civil Liberties Union says is “built on the clear evidence that community-based programs can be far more successful at preventing youth crime than the discredited policies of excessive incarceration.”

What the fuck?

Railroaded: Teens Jailed So Judges Could Profit | NBC Washington

[guartz]

dear god in heaven

wait, 7 years? that's it?

[archibaldcrane]

Jesus fucking christ that is fucked up. This is honestly one of the most corrupt things I've ever heard of in America.

[Kuya]

I like how they also evaded taxes. God, America is getting fucked up.

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.

........

[Demosthenes]

some of those kids are fucked for life.

[Wintermute]

Wow, that's pretty disgusting.

Hope these assholes get what's coming to them.

[Khajit]

Fuck that 7 years bullshit. put them in jail for every year that the people he sentenced had/have to serve. Yes i know that he'll die before he gets out but they deserve it.

[thestalkmore]

Wow man.

[Qalbert]

1. Jail kids.
2. ???
3. Profit!

[Gwynplaine]

I read this story last week and considered posting it. It's completely outrageous in every imaginable way. The articles I read didn't talk about the detention facilities very much which is what I'm curious about. I also agree that seven years is too little in comparison to devastating the lives of thousands of young people. At the very least it's good they were brought to justice. How revolting.

[Pikarya]

1. Jail kids.
2. ???
3. Profit!

/thread, seriously.

[Kuya]

I saw it a few days ago, but i thought someone else would post it since it was so vile. Saw no one had posted it yet, so i went ahead and did it.

Also:
YouTube - The Onion: Supreme Court: Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'

Relevant.

[Gregorio]

Hah...the judges in this article are from my county. Thankfully when I was a youngin I never did anything that would have gotten me placed in front of Ciavarella (or at least never got busted).

[Rhinox]

Fucked up. But remember boys and girls Greed is good.

[MrW]

This is terrible news. But at least these judges are out of the courtroom.

[Mojo]

They really should get life for this, fucking with the lives of nearly 5000 children definitely warrants it.

[Senji]

Prison for life wouldn't fly for sounding too harsh, should have to match the time each kid got.

[MrW]

A big difference in destroying your own life as an adult and destroying a teenager's life. Each should have to bend over in their town's square and get fucked by a cactus.

[TheShadyMan]

So
much
rage

[Elvis]

Sorta like that movie Sleepers, minus getting molested by Kevin Bacon