Democracy NOW! DN! - A federal jury has found a former Pennsylvania judge guilty of participating in a so-called "kids-for-cash" scheme, in which he received money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails over the years. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr. was convicted Friday of accepting bribes and kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers operated by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western Pennsylvania Child Care. Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, are said to have received $2.6 million dollars for their efforts. Ciavarella faces a maximum sentence of 157 years in prison, in addition to a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the youths' families. We are joined by Marsha Levick of the Juvenile Law Center and to Sandy Fonzo, who believes her son committed suicide after Ciavarella sent him to jail twice.Published with written permission from democracynow.org. www.democracynow.org Provided to you under Democracy NOW creative commons license. Democracy NOW!, an independent non-profit user funded news media, recognized and broadcast world wide.
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