There is not a punishment severe enough for this judge. He is a slave trader, selling human beings to the prison industry.
post-gazette.com/pg/09303/1009500-100.stmPosted Oct 30, 2009, 2:33 PM UTC
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post-gazette.com
There are some very sad stories coming out of this case.
(This is one story that was told by the attorney who prosecuted the case during an interveiw on NPR)
Doe was a 9 year old boy who always wanted a mountain bike. But his family was poor so they couldn't afford one. On his birthday, his family decided since he was such a nice boy, they would buy him an used mountain bike. He was very happy with the bike and rode it everywhere.
It turned out, that used bike was stolen. And Doe ended up in Judge Ciavarella's court. The family was told not to get an attorney so the judge would be lenient to him. That was a lie. He was sentenced to 5 years. He has already served 2 years before the scheme was exposed.
EDIT: thebigbradwolf found the source of the story: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20271084,00.html The boy was 15 years old, not 9. It was a motorbike, not a mountain bike.
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Is that really true...? I really don't want to believe it. Any sources?
Edit: Having seen the altered facts, I'm still all angry'd up inside. Especially by this:
The Balasavages soon realized that they were in for trouble. How? "That day I did not see one parent come out with a kid," says Charlie, "and there were a lot of kids."
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This is a very common problem. Things like that happen on a routine basis, and people don't want to believe, so they go great lengths to rationalize what happens, and find some "other" explanation.
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found an article mentioning it. His name is Charlie Balasavage. Should be easy to find an article or two more from that.
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I can't find a source online. Like what I said, I heard this on NPR when I was driving from Phily to New York.
Also I wonder why a lot of great NPR programs in Philadelphia is not broadcasted elsewhere. All I get in my local town is classic music.
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Cash I imagine. It's easier to pay some schlub to roll out music not covered by copyright law than it is to pay a new program their dues.
I am in the situation. I'm gonna donate to my station, but I want more news, more cultural programs besides classical.
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There are some (retarded) cases where classical gets played on FM and the news programs on AM.
EDIT: Downvoted? That setup is exactly what goes on where I live...
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While it's small comfort, it's good to know that this Judge got caught, but makes you wonder how many other judges are on the payroll of private prisons like this; I'm sure this isn't an isolated case.
I do, in my own little world, appreciate the fact that this judge got caught and the judgements were overturned. I hope that the 2.8 million dollars the judge got in kickbacks is handed to the 5000 kids that were jailed by this judge. Seems only fitting...
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I hope that 2.8 million dollars the judge got in kickbacks is handed to the 5000 kids that were jailed by this judge
"Hi, I ruined your life, here's your share of the money I made off of you: $560."
17
Wow.. I never did the math, but now that I do it appalls me even more. He basically sold each of these kids for $500. To him, a child's life was worth less then my rent.
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Welcome to the ghastly world of sociopathy. He didn't see them as kids with futures, he saw them as a commodity.
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Enron was not an isolated case of corruption on Wallstreet. That's why Scapegoating is dangerous. The problem is systemic, and almost always is. Somebody finds out about a new way to make some money and get away with it, then everybody else with the same means follows likewise. In some respects, business endeavors like this can be seen as an act of war on the American people, and treasonous. The financial and economic arm of a war machine is often overlooked, but is the foundation and can never be underestimated or deemed accidental.
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Incidentally outing a CIA agent is seen as an act of war too, but we all know how that shit turned out...
The US is suffering from some really hardcore corruption. When government openly takes bribes, it's systemic all the way through.
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I'd like to think that, in the adult justice system, nothing so blatant could occur. Adults facing multiple-year sentences get jury trials and public defenders. It's hard to imagine an adult getting more than a few months in the local lock-up without a real trial.
This doesn't exclude cases where people are given bad plea bargains or prosecutors/police faking/witholding evidence. It's just a limitation on the scope of power of the judiciary has in the adult legal system.
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You know though what's interesting in this case is that the former judge still denies that these were kickbacks, so a federal judge overturned his guilty please based on his open denial ( think of Blagojevich here ).
He's facing a jury trial now because he continues to deny - he'll get more than his initial please of guilty and 7 years. I hope the jury throws the fucking book at this judge.
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He should be charged with entrapment, child endangerment, child abuse, slavery, treason, and crimes against humanity. I'm curious whether anyone died or not as a result of his acts.
1
Hold on now, if this prosecutor knew the bike was purchased as a gift for him, why did he prosecute the kid?
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Because they wouldn't make money from prosecuting the parents.
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I have never said this before but that judge deserves to be shot in the face. Sorry, just saying.
Edit: I'm dead serious. I really can't think of something more disgusting than this. Even a serial killer or a child molester only affects so many people. This guy dealt with 1000's of children. This man gets my vote for the worst person in the universe.
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With tranquilizer darts filled with tabasco sauce. Hourly. For the next 5 years.
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Your comment is strangely appropriate for your username.
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If someone I knew was a victim of this fuck, I'd have recommended Mad Dog 357 instead of Tabasco.
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Not to be that guy, but can you cite this? Minors have a very different legal code than adults. It's reallly really hard to sentence a minor to jail. my state won't allow it period.
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None of these cases went to a real jail, it was all juvie. They just happened to be sent to private facilities that make money off the kids there, and then pay this judge to send them more kids.
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Juvie for a fucking nine year old?
Here in Canada we have a federal law that prohibits jailing of children under 12... We bitch about our young offenders laws being too lenient, but this is the polar extreme.
I don't give a shit if a 9 year old kid steals a bike. That's not grounds for jail time. A 9 year old is still a young child. EVEN if the kid stole the bike and EVEN if the kid was guilty, there's better ways to punish a 9 year old kid than jail. Sentence them to burn all their toys in a backyard bonfire or something. Good enough.
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Says maxxpower5000 in his edit
thebigbradwolf found the source of the story: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20271084,00.html The boy was 15 years old, not 9. It was a motorbike, not a mountain bike.
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The investigators came across numerous cases of what appeared to be grotesquely severe punishment handed out by Ciavarella. One of them involved Charlie Balasavage of Wilkes-Barre, whose ordeal began in the summer of 2006 when he was 15 and his parents bought him a used motor bike from a cousin. A few weeks later, the police showed up at the house to inform Charlie that the bike had been stolen. The family explained they had no idea, but that didn't matter—all three of them were arrested
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American's need to wake up and realize that the elected officials, lobbyists, and businessmen on wallstreet are the biggest threat to our freedom, and not some goddamn militants off in the fucking mountains of Afghanistan! They're a red herring, a smoke screen, a diversion from the thieves and liars slowly trying to enslave us in poverty and draconian law.
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what about the prison owners that were paying him bribes?
article doesn't discuss that.
anyone know anything?
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That's a good question. This NYT article suggests to me that somebody is trying to make sure that there are never any further repercussions after Ciavarelli gets prison.
In fact, after reading about 10 articles concerning this case, I have not found the name of the for-profit prisons who gave the kickbacks. This is fishy.
EDIT: Wikipedia leads me to the actual complaint, which provides the ironic name "PA Child Care, LLC". This seems to be their info.
EDIT 2: And this article suggests that the owners of the facility will not face any punishment.
And oh, this is nice. One of the owners is the brother of the Allegheny County district attorney.
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how can we bring this to the public's attention?
40
Somebody else on this thread mentioned that last night, he posted a reddit linking to an MSNBC article about the same case. I think the best thing we can do is to make sure when we talk about it, we don't let people think this is just because of one crooked judge (actually, two crooked judges). We have to point out that this is precisely the kind of abuse we are asking for when we privatize prisons.
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Reddit is a start... start sending this story to BBC, CBC, AlJazeera, other worldwide newspapers.
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That info is worth a second submission.
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"inspiring brighter futures"
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But who paid the bribes? There had to be a person.
EDIT: http://www.palawweekly.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=30038
Robert J. Powell, the lawyer and former juvenile detention center owner at the core of Luzerne County’s judicial corruption scandal, has been placed on temporary suspension by the state Supreme Court.
A statement of offense conduct filed after Powell’s arraignment in June says Powell paid the judges $772,500, disguising the payments as rent for a yacht slip at the judges’ Florida condominium. Powell also allowed more than $2 million to pass through his bank accounts in connection with a “finders fee” that Mericle paid the judges.
Looks like all you get is your license suspended.
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Here is some contact info:
Parents, legal guardians, police officers, juvenile courts, etc. can make referrals to Mid-Atlantic Youth Services. If an adolescent in your care is in need of help, please contact Corey Shumaker at 814-221-5684 or via email at [email protected].
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I suppose that's omitted for "their safety". They have their media scapegoat in the case, everyone else will get off.
This country makes me sick sometimes.
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Two partners owned the jails, one claims he knew nothing, the other wore a wire for the feds, and was able to record the judges incriminating themselves. For this, he is receiving about 4 years. The person who provided the largest bribe, $2 million, was the contractor who built the prison. Unbelievably he was sentenced to serve less than 6 months. This was after he promised to pa $2 million dollars to fund that programs that help troubled youth. This is a devloper who receives millions in state funding every year for construction projects.
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Cite that, I really would like to know
6
Here is a list of stories which chronicle the players.
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I'm curious about this as well. Especially concidering maxxpower5000's story a bit further up about a 9 y/o. What value does he have as labour? And WHY is this story not in a more major newspaper? It's one of the most newsworthy things I've read in a while.
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It's not labor they were after, just cash. Basically, the government would pay the private company X dollars to house an 'inmate'.
So; if it costs me 20,000 to house an inmate for a year, I will charge the Government 35,000. I will then set aside 5,000 of the 15,000 profit to encourage corrupt court officials to send me more inmates.
I clearly picked numbers of the top of my head, but the idea is sound. It's a massive money making scam. Imprisonment for profit should be banned...kinda like health-care-for-profit really. It's so immoral as to make a regular person sick to his/her stomach.
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This is a bit of an understatement.
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Let me clarify something: I did not mean to imply that the prison owners were using the kids for labor. As far as I know, they just wanted to keep their census up, because they get a certain amount of money from the state for each kid in lockup.
That doesn't make it any less reprehensible, I just wanted to clarify that, because I can see how my headline could be misconstrued.
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Robert Mericle was the guy. His commercial real estate company literally owns half the county.
FTA: Wealthy developer Robert K. Mericle didn't break the law when he paid $2.15 million in finder's fees to two Luzerne County judges who helped him win contracts to build two for-profit juvenile detention centers. What led to the charges against him was his failure to tell IRS agents and a federal grand jury the judges evaded taxes on the fees, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.
Mr. Mericle pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of failure to report a felony. He faces a maximum of three years in prison, but is more likely to serve less than a year, or perhaps receive only probation under the terms of his plea agreement. He is cooperating with prosecutors who have charged 12 people in an ongoing probe of political corruption in Luzerne County.
So apparently it's not bribery when you call it paying a finder's fee.
You also have to know that the entire country has been pretty much under investigation, as well as the local school districts. There's been a lot of pay-to-play teacher hiring going on, and a ton of county officials have stepped down/been dismissed.
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Sad anything else is above your comment here.
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I believe that they are currently investigating them, and may have arrested some others connected to this, but I'm not 100% sure.
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I had your question in mind as soon as I finished reading this story. Thank you for asking it, it's good to know other people want to know the truth too.
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Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be just fine.
1
When I came to the US 10 years ago, many asked me how I liked it living in a free country. I always felt utterly confused by why they thought the Eastern European country I was from lacked freedom. I know realze they must have been sacracstic, when they called the US free.
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the only ones truly free are the ones with the money to buy their freedom, thats the way it is in capitalistic nations = only the rich & powerful are really free
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That's the inherent message of "$1000 fine or three months in jail," isn't it?
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There are around 4 million people on probation in America. The choice you speak of is exactly the choice they were given. So many months or years in jail, or pay the govt. money. 4 million people are constantly hounded for money and given the threat of going to jail if the money is not paid. This is fucking disgusting in my opinion.
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In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women.
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America, the land of the fee and the home of the rapacious profiteering.
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capitalist nation, lol, that's seriously delusional.
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Same is true of most nations, albeit you often need to be less rich and less powerful as corruption is more affordable and power more diffuse.
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As opposed to?
Capitalism is as free as you're going to get.
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What does capitalism have to do with freedom? Leaders of a capitalist state can make restrictive laws just as well as leaders of any other state can.
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"What does capitalism have to do with freedom?"
It's the only economic policy that advocates a free economy?
We're not talking about politics obviously, we're talking about economy. In a capitalist economy, in theory, you get do whatever it is you want with money. It's the only form of economy that allows this.
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Tell me where the freedom is in American Capitalism that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. What's so much more free about America that isn't free in Canada, UK, France, or Germany...
Freedom to get fleeced by health insurance companies? Freedom to get fleeced by banks? That's not freedom, that's serfdom.
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What's so much more free about America that isn't free in Canada, UK, France, or Germany...
What with their firearm prohibitions? Or the network of surveillance cameras in public? The bans on hate speech long after there was any justification for it (I'm pretty sure the Nazi party is finally broken) ?
Gee, I don't know.
Granted, we're not much better off, but at least there's lip service paid to some of the principles.
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What american capitalism?
If America is capitalist, Cuba is a theocracy. And why is this about America all of a sudden?
Again, capitalism is less free than what?
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Right, I hear about this kind of things happening in Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia all of the time. /sarcasm
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Why no mention of China? Weird.
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That's why everyone says Singapore is so free, Alexander Dumas.
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Yeah, I sure am oppressed down here making $10 an hour. Why, I can't even use the inner nets or vote! OH WAIT LOL
OH NO RICH PEOPLE ARE DOWNVOTING ME
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Why do you guys hate our freedom?
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It's made in China.
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Perhaps we overstate things when we claim to be "free," but you might also notice that the U.S. works to stop this kind of injustice and that this (admittedly imperfect) system worked here... eventually.
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Isn't it cool that our minds can see "sacracstic" and without thinking know that he meant "sarcastic." BTW I'm the real Mishkin.
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"Arncdiocg to a rscareeehr (ics) at Cimbrdgae Utyrvsiein, it dsoe'nt matetr in waht oerdr the ltetres in aa wrod aer, the only irnptaomt tinhg is that the frist and last letetr be at the rhgit pleac. The rest can be aa tatol mses and you can sitll read it wiotuht pbolemr. This is buscaee the hmaun mind does not raed eervy letter by istlef but the word as aa woelh."
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Will the real Mishkin please stand up?
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Upped b/c I used this joke a week ago and got downed.
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I'm Mishkin, yes I'm the real Mishkin. All you other Mishkins are just imitating, so won't the real Mishkin please stand up, please stand up.
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Like many other things, if you have to say it, it likely isn't true. This "land of the free" has the most prisoners of all countries on Earth by percentage of population and total number. Like Faux News says they're "fair and balanced" and the Republicans are the party of fiscal conservatism.
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of course there is less corruption in the other places /s
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[Citation Needed]
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I always felt utterly confused by why they thought the Eastern European country I was from lacked freedom
Your confusion just means that your brainwashing into thinking you were free took well.
I know realze they must have been sacracstic, when they called the US free.
And obviously you're still in denial if you are claiming that a communist country's citizens were free. Or, hopefully, you're just a troll.
Hint: In a communist Eastern European country, nobody would have tried to right this wrong as exposing the corruption would have embarassed the regime. Here, the judge is going to jail, all convictions have been overturned and there will be some form of compensation for the people that were wronged. Perfect? God, no... but claiming that they are the same is just pro-communist propaganda that even a blind person would see through.
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I'm puzzled. I don't remember there being very many Communist countries in eastern Europe ten years ago. Twenty years ago, sure, there were plenty, but ten years ago... well, maybe Belarus? So I don't know where on earth you got the idea that this guy had come from a Communist country.
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All Eastern European countries have been communist until the end of the 80's or so. Even if TheRealMishkin came to the USA 10 years ago (after the political regime changes), he was born and raised during the communist times, and thus (s)he experienced the lack of freedom associated in a communist country.
To pretend that it did not happen,
I always felt utterly confused by why they thought the Eastern European country I was from lacked freedom.
and to top it off with a claim that US citizens are not free
I know realze they must have been sacracstic, when they called the US free.
is just typical apparatchik drivel.
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If I remember my history correctly, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Surely there were no communist regimes left in eastern europe by the time the USSR dissolved in 1991, let alone 10 years ago?
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you mean privatized prisons have negative consequences?????????????????
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I think this may be the most important point in this case.
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but.. but.. what about the free market!
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It seems wherever you find money, you're going to find corruption. Do economists really not get the ramifications of absolute greed?
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To me it seems the problem is not necessarily with the privatization of prisons, but in how a corporation has so much power over our legal and judicial system. Corporatism vs Capitalism.
1
uhhh
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Are you suggesting that government officials are never corrupt? Wasn't the judge himself a representative of the state?
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Not everything about government-run facilities is great. However, without the profit motive upon which the private prison industry is based, this particular case could not have happened.
1
Death Penalty would be fine by me. Life in Prison. Make an extreme example out of him. There is no excuse for this type of behavior and a very low change of rehabilitation in my opinion.
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Corruption should have the most severe penalties that exist, both for the receivers and payers of the bribes. If a system is fundamentally important to society - and even most libertarians will admit that courts fit that description - the subversion of that system can cause far more societal damage than a murder. How many lives has this guy disrupted? How many of these kids - some of whom were innocent - will be able to get their lives back on track.
The death penalty doesn't work well for murder because most murders are committed either in extreme anger - or if they are premeditated, are carried out by someone too mentally impaired to care about consequence.
Crimes of pure greed are different - many of these crimes are committed by people who could be deterred if they perceived serious consequences. These are not crimes of passion - they can therefore be reduced by altering the risk-reward ratio. Judging by how frequency corruption occurs (and assuming there's an awful lot out there that isn't getting caught), there isn't NEARLY enough risk in this system.
The death penalty is killing the wrong people.
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[T]he subversion of that system can cause far more societal damage than a murder.
The system itself is all for that point when one of them -- a judge or police officer, for example -- is murdered because of their station. They treat the crime as more serious than a "mere murder" of ordinary taxpayers like you and me.
So, I agree with you 100%. If they want to play that card, then it has to be played both ways.
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The larger discussion should be whether we've allowed the entire Criminal Justice Industry to sacrifice justice for profit. Private companies now install traffic cameras, charge high fees for minor mistakes, and give municipalities a cut. The system is free from challenge because they skirt the constitutional guarantees of a fair trial. The drug war industry pays six-digit salaries to prison guards with high school educations ( or less ) and makes judges and attorneys wealthy. The rot is 'way deeper than we want to acknowledge.
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Oh man are you right. WAY deeper.
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You get in more trouble for breaking and entering if you're a licensed locksmith, because you're learning the trade so you DON'T do this shit.
This guy needs to be chained to a 400-lb rock and have it permanently affixed to his being. That'll teach him.
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This guy needs to be chained to a 400-lb tranny crack-whore and have it permanently affixed to his being. That'll teach him.
FTFY
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what did the crack whore do to deserve that?
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Crack whores are people, too! This guy... not so much.
2
In China, this guy would be hanged. Just think about that for a second.
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Death sentences in China tainted milk case
Sometimes a heavy hand is needed.
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The only reason China's quasi-capitalist communism works is because of the extreme level of accountability involved. We have the exact same abuses, only without the punishment, so we have more of them.
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Sounds like we need to take notes.
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Hoist them by their own petard. Put them all, briber and judge alike, into the general population of a private prison.
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I'll get the rope. Anyone good at tying knots?
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5000 counts of corruption/illegal imprisonment should add up to at least life.
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Best make sure it's life in a prison that he sent people to. Then he'll get the fair (tm) treatment he deserves...
1
Yeah that makes the most sense.
1
There are very few things I can classify as evil, but sending the young and defenseless to jail for money?
that is what I call evil
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Seriously, and it seems like the people in charge of this case still don't get exactly how evil it is.
"This is exactly the relief these kids needed," said Marsha Levick, the center's legal director. "It's the most serious judicial corruption scandal in our history and the court took an extraordinary step in addressing it."
Is this bitch serious? This is the least they could've done. Extraordinary will be if they they actually prosecute the asshole to the full extent for which he should be.
It should be standard for those with power in our society to accept the heaviest punishment for breaking the trust with the public.
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Hey now, that's unnecessary. According to other articles I've read, Marsha Levick and the Juvenile Law Center have been among the most important advocates these kids have. I think she understands precisely how evil this case is. Her quote above is something people in her position are pretty much required to say, for the sake of comity.
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Fair enough. Still, politics shouldn't even enter into the equation here. This guy is an evil son of a bitch, and he deserves to fry.
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This is evil.Sadly this is normal for that place.This is just the tip of the SLAVE STATE iceberg in PA.
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The court said the district attorney's office may seek to retry youths who remain under court supervision
Some people have no souls. Prosecutors are among the worst of them.
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Some of them might actually be guilty. They deserve a fair trial. (Then again, like the article mentioned, a retrial might constitute double jeopardy.)
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They deserve a fair trial
And on that, the state has failed them.
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I'd like to know what the DA's were doing while this judge was showing "complete disregard for the constitutional rights of the juveniles". Ah yes, that's right, time and again they were gladly accepting the convictions, and not raising a peep in individual cases or on the whole.
The DA's office doesn't care if any of these kids got a fair trial. All they care about, all they ever cared about, is getting as many convictions as they can. If they cared about fairness they would have been raising red flags long before this guy sent 6500 kids to prison.
This guy's story should be raising questions about the ethics of the DA's office as well.
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that's a whole nother can of worms there....
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Yeah, one I think ought to be opened if someone is concerned with fairness.
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I doubt that reporter was a lawyer...couldnt they just declare a mistrial?
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I think it's too late now. I think a mistrial can only be declared before the verdict is declared. After that, the only way to overturn the verdict is by appeal.
Mind you, IANAL either.
But the concept of double jeopardy is very sound. Without it the state can try you as many times as it likes, until it gets the verdict it desires. And it can keep you incarcerated indefinitely pending each trail. Clearly this is open to abuse by corrupt politicians.
It's much like the rule that fruits of an illegal search cannot be used as evidence. It attempts to keep the game honest. The accused has the right to a fair and speedy trial - if the trial proves him innocent, then the accused can forget about it, and the accusation is no longer hanging over his head causing worry that he may be convicted next time. How would you like it if you were found innocent, and then 10 years later re-arrested and again facing the same ordeal? Even worse to have been found guilty by a corrupt judge, to be released after his crimes become public, and then have to face the same false accusations again - in the meantime, witnesses' memories may have lapsed, or witnesses who support your side may have died, not to mention the second expense of a defence lawyer.
Sure, some of these guys may be guilty, but we can't know which ones. It's not fair to try an innocent man twice, and all are innocent until proven guilty. Better a guilty man goes free than an innocent is imprisoned. These may all seem like very trite things to say, but the logic follows quite clearly, and these precepts are the basis of our justice system, which have been given much thought and consideration over generations, in order to make the best of an inherently unfair world, and in order to contrive justice as best we can. The state had its chance to jail these kids for their alleged crimes, and it screwed up when it allowed their trials to be supervised by a bent judge. We cannot pick and choose to whom we apply justice, just because you or I might pick out a handful of these suspects and say "oh, he looks like a wrong 'un - let's have another go at him".
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Yes, you can't have a free society when you put innocent people in jail.
Thanks for the post.
1
No, a mistrial has to be declared before a verdict is rendered.
4
interesting. is there any other maneuvering around it in order to get convictions?
or was the justice system designed that the criminals in these sorts of cases just get off in order to protect the falsely accused, and to discourage judges/prosecutors/leos from doing this sort of behavior?
0
Some of them might actually be guilty. They deserve a fair trial.
And what then? They already served their time!
0
Uh... perhaps somebody should inform this DA about the notion of "double jeopardy" and its unconstitutionality.
1
He gets time equal to the time served by every kid he put away and the 2.8 million should be taken from him and distributed amongst the kids.
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I'm pissed off because this would be justice. However, it's still just wishful thinking in free america.
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It is not justice. I would not be happy with sitting in a jail for such a small chunk of money. i would want this man hanged for stealing part of my life for his own personal benefit. Fuck money, fuck justice, i'd want revenge. Unless it's a whole lot of money...
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It would be unusual, and that's unconstitutional.
How can it become usual?
1
unusual in the 8th amendment sense doesnt really mean uncommon or rare. It refers more to an arbitrary nature of a punishment or a lack of standardization among punishments.
1
You're half right. But if this corporation can afford 2.8 million in bribes to one judge, how much money must they be making on these kids?
That's the amount that should be paid in restitution.
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Plus another 2.8 million to be taken from the guy who was handing out bribes, plus that guy should get the same sentence. Plus, every kid who was jailed should get a free shot at him. (6.5k cases were dismissed: 2.8 million means that each kid gets $430.76... what a paltry sum for what they had to go through.)
Edit: figures
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Viewed in another way is the fucked up thought that the judge deemed $431 an acceptable sum to pretty much sell a child to a prison.
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The state can pay an additional $4310 for each kid for being stupid enough to let this happen.
1
There was a Law & Order: SVU episode about this exact situation for anyone interested
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haha, that even has the sexting thing in it too...
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A lot of Law and Order episodes are based on real cases. I believe when the show started (and was good) they all were. You just can't make some of that stuff up.
3
It's funny how all the bad shit that ever happens in the US only happens in NYC on that show. Also, they often change the bad guys to white people, and sometimes to rich white people.
There was one episode based on something that actually happened near where I live, in Dallas. A woman driving hit a man walking, he ended up halfway through her windshield. She drove home, parked the car in the garage and left the man to die. In real life she was a middle class black woman with a Toyota. On Law & Order she was a haughty, upper class white woman with a Jaguar.
3
A predictable result of rampant capitalism. As we privatize more government functions, you can expect to hear more of this kind of shit.
13
Let's go over this, because I find it hi-larious.
Drugs are illegal largely due to the 20th century propaganda campaign that they were morally prenicious, and the public perception of them is refined over that time to be a by-word for evil (you want a character in your action movie to be an automatic villain? Make him a drug-dealer). Drugs thus become the major crime of modern society, such that 1/2 of all Pensylvennia's inmates are in jail for non-violent offenses, and the problem is exacerbated by "tough on drugs/crime" laws that increase prison sentences for those types of crimes. The massive expense of housing so many people for so long causes government to look to the private sector to ease costs (it doesn't, but who doesn't enjoy a good free market circle jerk now and again?). The huge profits of private prisons gives them great monetary resources to find Judges willing to act a little tougher, a little more mean, and over time some even become as transparently corrupt as this judge. This creates more prisoners the government doesn't have the money for, which gives the private lobby even more power.
See what happened? The attempt to prevent immorality caused immorality! It's so ironic! :p It's also kind of the story of US history, if you think about it.
13
I agree with your post 99%, but drug dealers are by and large doing much worse things than simply handing bags of whatever to customers. There is huge amounts of violence associated with the drug trade, and its not unfair at all to judge those who participate in this violent trade as social predators and dangerous people. Even the friend we all have who sells pot but is otherwise a normal kid is dealing with blood money and should be held accountable for his actions. Drug dealing is not a behavoir that is on par with being an addict or occasional drug user. Drug dealers are very dangerous people.
0
Only because the state has made things that way.
4
They're people willing to break the law and face jail time, which usually brings out the more violent people naturally. But nothing inherent to the job necessitates that.
So just don't hang around with them if you don't like them. If they commit a violent crime, arrest them for it. Otherwise, don't have a problem with them.
2
They're people willing to break the law and face jail time, which usually brings out the more desperate people naturally.
FTFY
2
You are full of shit but like to act like you know what you are talking about. Fuck along now.
"remember that the plural of anecdotes is not data."
0
Am i wrong? The plural of anecdotes most certainly is not data. Are most drug dealers simply nice people just selling baked goods? Stop stalking me, or at least buy me dinner before you get all up in my shit.
2
You're right, he's wrong. He's probably a drug dealer.
1
I can think of some appropriate punishments. Ever seen the Saw series of movies?
12
Go see "Law Abiding Citizen" - you'll enjoy it.
It's full of holes, but I still liked it a lot.
7
Disgusting.
5
You are absolutely right. It's disgusting how this judge stole the freedom of these children.
6
No, it's disgusting that you think the state should inflict psychotic, sadistic torture on anyone.
2
6500 children torn away from their families and thrown in with criminals. Most were probably beaten. Some probably raped. All will have mental scars that will never heal.
What's your proposal for justice? A fine and a couple months in county lockup?
3
Those weren't all that bad.
Much harsher punishment would be forcing him to watch the National Lampoon's Vacation series.
3
wtf man. Have a heart.
4
[deleted]
1
Seriously. Call it inhumane and whine to Geneva, but people like these need to have an example made out of them.
0
How about the death penalty for all those involved? This would include the judges, the lawyers who misguided the victims and the prison owners.
And a public one at that. Heck, I'll buy a ticket to come and witness these scum being hanged.
And private prisons? WTF? Seriously, do you Americans believe that state police, roads etc. too are socialist? I know you have private armies (Blackwater).
Forgive me. I had a very high opinion of the US. The past few years have not been very conducive to that.
12
Forgive me. I had a very high opinion of the US. The past few years have not been very conducive to that.
You don't need to live outside the US to feel that way. A lot of Americans feel the same.
8
Myself included.
2
do you Americans believe that...
Probably the vast majority of us do not believe these things. Unfortunately decisions like this are made by the few, who also directly profit from these socially immoral decisions.
So please do not get the wrong idea about "Americans" in general.
3
Our government is completely corrupt, because literally every function of it requires money, and the rich opinions get priority over the poor.
2
I had a very high opinion of the US...Which comic books are you reading?
1
I'm disappointed in all the calls for capital punishment on this post. I don't know if its just venting anger or meant seriously, but to me it is ridiculous. Yes, what this man did is reprehensible and an egregious perversion of justice in every way, and hopefully he will be sentenced and punished accordingly. That does not mean he deserves death. If we go grab our pitchforks and string up every criminal who may very well deserve to die, then we have become the animals we loathe.
12
then we have become the animals we loathe.
But it feels SOOO good.
3
I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm dead-set against the death penalty, since it is ineffective in deterring crime and too often puts innocent people to death.
But in this case, we have someone who is obviously not a victim of mistaken identity; who has admitted his guilt; and who has committed a truly heinous crime. Further, people of his ilk -- rich white lawyers -- are accustomed to getting the kid-glove treatment in the courts.
I think capital punishment in this case would be appropriate AND would be a deterrent. And I don't think it would make us animals to decide this; it would make us people who recognize something whose very existence cannot be tolerated in decent society.
3
People are suggesting that the death penalty would be a deterrent but I don't thing so. Primarily because anyone doing this isn't planing to get caught in the first place. The real deterrent would be to find the people that were bribing him and shutdown the companies they were working for. This would provide a massive finical incentive for the good people working in similar companies to make sure no fool is going for a repeat.
1
then we have become the animals we loathe.
animals don't usually enslave children. I think humans are the loathsome ones. I rather like animals.
saying that, you are right about the death penalty. It's barbaric, and it's saddening how many people are baying for blood here.
2
I'm constantly surprised at how many people are pro death penalty. To me it seems to be such a barbaric and awful thing. I am so glad that we got rid of it in my country.
1
Some animals will form gangs and slaughter children as mini-genocide. Check out Gray Langurs sometime; they're pretty hardcore.
1
and then there's gang rape by ducks...dolphins can get pretty fucked up too and lets not get onto primate behaviour...
which is why I said * usually* :)
1
Agreed. It is this very reason why I am against capital punishment. Any system that is flawed enough to let this shit happen cannot possibly be trusted to hand out death sentences.
1
[deleted]
1
Death is a punishment just like jail, I don't think it would make us "the animals we loathe" to end someones life who has destroyed thousands. Even the way you phrased that is ironic to me, saying that he deserves to die but that we shouldn't kill him. I 100% support capital punishment in this case.
0
Holy shit. A non sensationalist response. Bravo good sir.
0
Said it better than I or anyone else could have. Right the fuck on.
0
i think they should give all of the juveniles that he put away willow branch switches, and lock them all in a room with him tied to a chair for a day.
then put him in jail. But at least empower the kids.
11
Here's the appropriate punishment: The judge and the guy bribing him both get sentenced to as many total years as the kids did who did not receive a fair trial got sentenced. Also, they are not eligible for parole until they have served as many years as the mistrialed youths did in total before being released. So they should end up being sentenced to something in the neighborhood of 700+ years and not be up for parole for something like 70-120.
11
But some of those kids smoked a joint and deserved to go to prison for 30 years. </sarcasm>
You know what's wrong with the entire prison industry in the US? It's the word, already. Prison is NOT an industry.
4
That's the fairest and most well-thought-out suggestion I've seen so far. You have a fine sense of justice.
2
6500 cases over ~6 years, for a ballpark average of 3 years * 6500 cases (assuming uniform distribution), or 19,500 years minimum by your standard.
2
I saw some video on another link to this - the kids interviewed were sentenced to 1 month and 7 months or so, respectively. While these are only two out of 6000+ cases, I'd think there's a lot of room for smaller sentences. Still, multiply anything by 6000 and this guy would probably be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
1
Wisdom like Solomon right here, folks. Sounds perfect.
2
6.5k cases over 5 years. If you average it out to just 2 years each, that's 13k years. I agree with you.
1
[deleted]
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Damn. At least I searched this comments page for "given the nature and extent of the taint" before duplicating your post!
2
I also executed this function.
2
This is how capitalism works.
11
Exactly.
3
This story is featured in Michael Moore's 'Capitalism'. The story broke a couple months ago (nothing wrong with reposting for those who haven't seen it).
10
Yeah, the story is old, but I figured we need as many eyes on this as possible. I didn't know it was in Moore's movie, though.
7
I just watched this last night so you can imagine what a time warp this is.
1
Don't make this guy the scapegoat. The operators of those kid cages and the prosecutors for those cases have to accept some responsibility, too, as well as the legislators that made it all possible and the executive or court officials responsible for supervising the system.
Thanks, that is the point I wanted to make - these judges, as reprehensible as their actions are, did not act alone. We need to start hearing the names of the companies and persons involved in the bribery.
I want these companies shut down and the people who were running them put behind bars.
Private prisons are wrong. The profit motive involve to keep people incarcerated sets up some really bad incentives.
Hey, let's get a bunch of drugs into the prison and then bust everyone we find with them.
Hey, let's make sure to push the more explosive elements into the same area, to increase the number of fights.
That stuff is all bad enough, but the worst aspect of private prisons, IMO, is the amount of labor that takes place inside them. It's not just license plates anymore; prisoners build furniture, sew clothing, make telemarketing calls, and do all sorts of other work, producing products and providing services for the private market. And because they are exempt from minimum-wage laws, the prisons can legally pay them third-world wages.
And guess what? These same prison companies have lobbyists who are pushing state and Federal legislators to ratchet up the penalties for minor, victimless crimes like marijuana possession, as well as to pass draconian measures like "three strikes" laws. And when citizens are caught in the crosshairs of those laws, they get to go to privately-owned prisons, where they work in a factory for practically nonexistent pay. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?
Outsourcing to the Pacific Rim is old hat. These days you can create your own slave-labor population right here in the U.S., and it's all perfectly legal.
Private prisons are about as right as private police or private fire departments. Whoever first came up with the idea was a money grubbing asshole and I wonder how he convinced the rest of the idiots to go along with his idea.
Now we need to find a way to revert the system before it drains our economy and imprison even more of the general population.
How do private prisons work? Who funds it?
If the prisons make a profit by keeping more prisoners in prison longer, than that is a problem. But whoever funds the prisons like that need to re-examine their funding guidelines.
Personally, I would want to promote (pay more money to) a prison that has the least violence, and can produce more quality parolees (better in-prison education/training/social-work) instead of more return criminals. And if a private prison can do a better job than a public one, than pay them for it. I believe we should pay more money to the people that dedicate their lives to improving our society, if they do a good job of it.
Public prisons work off profits as well, perhaps less, but at the same time they are much larger and subsidized by tax payers, most of which don't agree with many of the laws or the conditions of the prisons.
US prisons should be exposed for what they are and attacked as epicenters of delinquency and rape. I can't think of a better all around attack slogan against the US prison complex than labeling it a sodomy breeding ground.
Wow. That sounded bad ass. You aren't in them movie pictures are ya?
put them all in public prisons with death panels option
True -- but this judge makes capital punishment worth while.
I think if he were put to death, it would be completely fair and act to serve due justice.
When you're in such a position of power, and abuse it so flagrantly, it is an act that deserves death... far more than any individual homicide or murder.
I think a long time in one of these private prisons would be much more fitting. Especially if it's no secret amongst the inmates what he did.
I don't believe in capital punishment, hyperbole, or dramatic statements like that.
I do believe in finding out how it happened and putting mechanisms in place so that it can never, ever happen again. That's what is important. The death of those judges gets me nothing. Get your priorities straight.
Point taken. In fact, I'd sell them their 87 month deal in exchange for their testimony against everyone else involved. Keep in mind everyone we nail is tagged for for civil action as well.
You could argue that the entire war on drugs is the same scam operated on a national level. It's a multiple billion dollar industry.
I think you would be safer saying that one of the "unintended consequences" of the drug war is the huge prison population in the US. The current drug prohibition infects many if not all facets of American life.
It is also true that the privatization of the prison systems is often followed by harsher drug sentencing, three-strikes laws, etc... as the private prisons lobby to get stricter laws to fill their for-profit prisons.
Perhaps unintended at first, but you can't keep claiming ignorance forever.
But that is kind of a broken window argument.
In the end the government is paying for the prison system, so the more people it sends to jail the more it's going to cost themselves.
edit: link for people who don't know what a broken window argument is.
And we all know that our government never does things that cost a lot of money whilst making private parties rich.
The GOP says privatization saves us from the evil government. Would they lie ?
Never at all. Why would it do that? You're making it sound like, I don't know, the government is controlled by the corporate interests or something. Which we obviously know isn't the case, because, uh, America is the best and all.
I don't understand what you're saying... I don't see where anyone is saying the war on drugs is good because it keeps people employed. What is the broken window argument here?
Believe me, I have heard people defend it because 'policemen would lose their jobs'.
Well you're saying they are sending people to prison to make money. Except the government makes the laws that send people to prison, but that money ends up coming out of their own pockets.
I agree that it makes no sense if " the Government " was one single decision maker. But in this case, it's a varied group of people with their own private interests.
Yeh, but the government could end prohibition if it wanted to, and save itself a lot of money. So the reason for the 'war on drugs' isn't cash, it's dumbarsery.
Yea, but you are both saying the same thing but from different viewpoints. Flannelback is saying that it is inefficient because the private prison acts as the window repairer and personally benefits from destruction. You are saying that the money could be better spent elsewhere right? If so I agree on both perspectives. Looking at the parable, the shopkeeper should educate his son about how the son himself can be directly affected by breaking the window. Likewise the government should focus on educating and trying to prevent addiction rather than paying for the window repair over and over. Thanks for that link...I've never heard this parable.
But the government is controlled by the people and the people are propagandized by the government and the private investors who also run the prisons. Democracy is being superseded.
Amen to that. Criminalize pot and fill the prisons, then make the parolee pay for his "Supervision" and re-imprison him when he can't get a jobcause he's a felon. Fucking great money maker, that.
<- Did 60 days for weed.
You are absolutely correct. The tank I was in had 24 people in it, 23 of which were in for drug offenses and most of them would be catching the chain to a State or Federal prison to spend even more time.
Here is a list of all those being prosecuted and their home addresses :)
ROBERT J. POWELL, MICHAEL T. CONAHAN, MARK A. CIAVARELLA, PA CHILD CARE, LLC, WESTERN PA CHILD CARE, LLC, ROBERT K. MERICLE, MERICLE CONSTRUCTION, INC., GREGORY ZAPPALA, PINNACLE GROUP OF JUPITER, LLC, BARBARA CONAHAN and CINDY CIAVARELLA and BEVERAGE MARKETING OF PA, INC., VISION HOLDINGS, LLC, JOE DOE, ESQUIRE, MID ATLANTIC YOUTH SERVICES CORP and POWELL LAW GROUP, P.C.
A more detailed description of the respective parties, taken from Section "III. Parties"
• Plaintiff FLORENCE WALLACE is an adult individual and the mother of B.W., a minor who resides in Shavertown, Pennsylvania.
• B.W. is a minor who resides in Shavertown, PA. In and around May, 2007 B.W., then 14 years old was charged with multiple criminal offenses including 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706(a)(l) Terroristic Threats. B.W. appeared before Defendant CIAVARELLA in Luzerne County Juvenile Court for an adjudication hearing on a delinquency petition for inter alia a violation of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706(a)(l), Terroristic Threats.
• Defendant ROBERT J. POWELL, hereinafter POWELL, is an adult individual who resides at 10 Fox Run Road Drums, Pennsylvania, and at all times relevant was an owner, officer, shareholder, and operator of Defendants PA Child Care, LLC, Western PA Child Care, LLC, Vision Holdings LLC, Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp., and Powell Law Group, P.C.
• Defendant MICHAEL T. CONAHAN, hereinafter CONAHAN, is an adult individual residing at 301 Deer Run Road, Mountain Top, PA was at all times relevant a Judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County and owner, officer, shareholder, operator, and beneficiary of Defendants Pinnacle Group of Jupiter, LLC, and Beverage Marketing of PA, Inc.
• Defendant MARK A. CIAVARELLA, hereinafter CIAVARELLA, is an adult individual residing at 585 Rutter Ave., Kingston, Pennsylvania and was at all times relevant a Judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County and owner, officer, shareholder, operator, and beneficiary of Defendants Pinnacle Group of Jupiter, LLC, and Beverage Marketing of PA, Inc.
• Defendant PA CHILD CARE, LLC, hereinafter PACC, is a Pennsylvania Limited Liability Company with a registered office address of 520 Walnut Street, P.O. Box 8581, Reading, Pennsylvania.
• Defendant WESTERN PA CHILD CARE, LLC, hereinafter WPACC, is a Pennsylvania Limited Liability Company with a registered office address of 1105 Berkshire Boulevard, Suite 320, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
• Defendant ROBERT K. MERICLE, hereinafter MERICLE, is an adult individual residing at 100 Baltimore Drive, Wilkes-Barre, PA and was at all times relevant an owner, shareholder, officer, and operator of Mericle Construction, Inc.
• Defendant MERICLE CONSTRUCTION, INC., hereinafter MERICLE CONSTRUCTION, is a Pennsylvania Close Corporation with a registered office address at 33 Beekman Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
• Defendant GREGORY ZAPPALA, hereinafter ZAPPALA, is an adult individual residing at 1212 Cliffview Drive, Monroebille, PA and was at all times relevant an owner, shareholder, officer, and operator of Defendants PA Child Care, LLC, Western PA Child Care, LLC, and Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp.
• Defendant PINNACLE GROUP OF JUPITER, LLC, hereinafter PINNACLE, is a Florida limited liability company with a registered address at 301 Deer Run Drive, Mountain Top, Pennsylvania that was owned and operated by Defendants BARBARA CONAHAN and CINDY CIAVARELLA.
• Defendant Barbara Conahan is an adult individual and upon information and belief the wife of Defendant Michael Conahan who resides at 301 Deer Run Road, Mountain Top, PA. At all times relevant hereto Defendant Barbara Conahan was either the owner, officer, shareholder, operator and/or beneficiary of Defendant, Pinnacle.
• Defendant Cindy Ciavarella is an adult individual and upon information and belief the wife of Defendant Mark A. Ciavarella who resides at 585 Rutter Ave., Kingston, Pennsylvania. At all times relevant hereto Defendant Cindy Ciavarella was either the owner, officer, shareholder, operator and/or beneficiary of Defendant, Pinnacle.
• Defendant BEVERAGE MARKETING OF PA, INC., hereinafter BEVERAGE, is a Pennsylvania Corporation with a registered address of P.O. Box 17, Pottsville Road, Seltzer, Pennsylvania.
• Defendant VISION HOLDINGS LLC, hereinafter VISION, is a Cayman Islands Company with a principal address in the Cayman Islands that is unknown at this time, but that was owned and operated by inter alia Defendant POWELL.
• It is believed and therefore averred that Defendant JOE DOE, ESQUIRE, hereinafter DOE, is an unidentified Schuylkill County attorney and co-conspirator listed in the Federal Criminal Information filed against Defendant Conahan and Defendant Ciavarella in United States District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
• Defendant MID ATLANTIC YOUTH SERVICES CORP., hereinafter MAYS, is a Pennsylvania Corporation with a registered office address at 701 Sathers Drive, Pittston Township, Pennsylvania.
• Defendant POWELL LAW GROUP, P.C., hereinafter POWELL LAW, is a Pennsylvania Professional Corporation with a registered office address at 10 Fox Run Road, Drums, Pennsylvania.
http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27039&p=327841
So the Plaintiff (who brought the charges) is a civilian? It went on for so long, and it took someone who was completely out of the government realm to step up and do something about it. That is utterly shameful. I can't find any more info on Wallace other than she is the mother of one of the children sent off for cash (Jail time for making threatening remarks on MySpace).
thanks, we should organize a petition to make a federal law banning private prisons and make sure people like this are treated with the same stigma that child molesters are.
Fuck man, I'd rather be molested then held fucking prisoner with an unfair/nonexistant trial and forced into slave labor.
Or you could go to prison and have some redneck look in your asshole and kill two birds with one stone, like all of these kids went through.
You wouldn't really have to choose, because molestation at juvenile detention centers is incredibly common (and it's usually committed by the other juvelines).
By the way, the judges addresses are incorrect, it's Deer Run DRIVE.
Oh, check out the Mid-Atlantic Youth Services web site - "provider of secure residential treatment services"!
Sentencing a 14 year old for making 'terroristic threats'? What a Kafkaesque nightmare that case must have been. This is a seriously bad man, a seriously bad system. How have we strayed so far?
Any word on a civil lawsuit to follow.
You're a sick bastard. Where did you get all this info? Or do you think you get to be above the law?
The Google.
You think I'm a sick bastard? Maybe you don't understand what these people are doing.
Not above the law, it's just in the White Pages :)
I say post it on 4chan just to piss darthseb off more. Whinging little faggot. Can tell he doesn't think the judges did anything wrong.
"Above the law", oh lol. READ THE LINK AT THE TOP OF THE THREAD YOU'RE POSTING IN, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS. Then leave and go back to sucking cock.
Yeah, but tell me this: what were you hoping to get accomplished by posting their personal info?
it's public knowledge completely legal to posses and easy to find actually as the PUBLISH it in the local newspaper usually.
Fair enough.
Uh, since he took money to send these kids to a private jail, I'LL MAKE HIM THE FUCKING SCAPEGOAT.
That is all.
The judge did not act alone. It's not justice to let everyone besides him go free with no consequences.
I agree, but it's also not justice to give this guy a break just because other people were involved. If anything, we should be going after those other people as well.
In any case, this judge certainly doesn't deserve anything less than whatever he gets.
judges are above the law so he'll probably get less than what he deserves
[deleted]
It's not.. not justice either. Justice isn't perfect so we prosecute anyone we can prove is involved, but that will never be everyone.
Hopefully the judge will actually flip when facing decades in prison and give the DA lots of names.
Agreed...were these sentences out of the norm, or inconsistent with the amount of evidence available? Were the sentences harsher than what the prosecutors asking for? Were the prosecutors surprised to always get the exact sentence they suggested, or were they even more surprised because the judge was consistently increasing the penalty?
Judges don't operate in a vacuum.
[deleted]
Oh, so since he's a judge we should just let everyone else involved go? Prosecutors need to be punished, jurors need to be investigated, shit, even the defense attorneys need to be investigated. In my opinion right now, anyone involved in those cases needs to be investigated and harshly punished if it's found that they were involved in this disgrace. Anyone involved besides the kids could've been profiting, not just the judge.
Why should we punish only the judge and then call "justice served"? Justice would not be served at all, because I guarantee that at least the prosecutors, if not everyone working the cases was making a profit too.
I'm not saying he acted alone. AFAIK, the other people were not paid TO SEND PEOPLE TO PRISON.
yes, they were. the private prisons got more money from the state for each one of those kids the judge sent down. the prison agents who bribed the judge got more money from the state than they paid him for the juvenile convictions, or they wouldn't have bothered.
I agree he is guilty, but they better go after the prisons as well.
[deleted]
Hard to say if they did - but if they knew about it and did nothing, they can get skull fucked in hell as far as I'm concerned.
[deleted]
The person or organization who gave the bribe also committed a crime. So, we'll send them both to jail.
Or send them to my house. I'll take good care of them.
I'm pretty sure bribery is legal in the US :P just look at our congresses.
They call them campaign contributions and keep track and account for them. All above board. Thats the problem with corruption in congress, they get to write the laws about their own corrupt conduct, and they've legalized almost all of it.
[deleted]
Bring him to me. I like fucking scapegoats.
Not necessarily the scapegoat, but he does need to be the poster child. While it takes two parties for this outrage to happen, the judge is someone who needs to be held to a higher standard. It seems that people that dole out justice (judges and police officers) have their own set of laws and that needs to stop. The owners of the private jail are not innocent but they would have no supply of inmates if it wasn't for the crooked judge. I say throw the book at him and let other judges around the country see what can happen when you ruin young lives.
You hinted at it here, but this is the real reason the judge is getting all the attention. The judge is an administrator of justice...I think the technical term is Officer of the Court. Society in general places a lot of trust in them to guarantee liberty. IF this type of thing were to become common, our entire justice system would be a joke
That's not the same thing with private citizens, even if they do own prisons.
True but the other are right that it's the tail of money that you should follow to get the root of the problem. Someone went out of their way to make this profitable for the judge and they are the real kingpin of the operation.
This stuff apparently happens all the time in TX.
[deleted]
Isn't this called "procrastination"?
hey revolutions take a lot of planning don't you know; there's sandwiches to make, port-a-loo's to hire, invitations to send out, molotov cocktails to be prepared, and yes - lists of the people who will be first against the wall.
you just can't rush these things
wishful thinking.
Everyone wants a revolution in their lifetime, we can't all be so lucky, but one constant of civilization is that if you allow the wealth gap to keep growing revolution is certain.
They were taking advantage of the system. The judge was the system.
Yeah, go after everyone else in the chain, definitely, but this guy was right at the top and deserves every bit of scape-goating he is going to get.
scapegoat... he took 2 million dollars in bribe money... i think justice would be best served if this guy was dragged from his home and publicly burned alive. JMO... other opinions may differ.
I think life in prison for a judge might actually be a worse fate.
Well, I think it is key that we prosecute public officials to the highest degree of the law because unlike black market operators we actually put our trust in these people and endorsed them. Public officials should always face the highest possible sentencing for their crimes because they've not only committed the same crimes as their black market counterparts, but they've undermined democratic trust in their position and ultimately the bond between citizen and public official is the foundation of democracy.
True that the Judge didn't act alone, but he was in a position of power.
His punishment should be extremely severe because he held power. Never slap the wrists of those who are corrupted.
I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and this week our mayor was convicted on 60 counts of corruption (Bribery). It seems a huge number of people are furious that the men that bribed him turned state's witness for lower sentences. I find nothing wrong with that. What's the bigger crime? Bribing someone or having a Mayor or Judge violating his oath of office?
Exactly. People in charge of upholding the law should be held to a higher standard.
The guy isn't a scapegoat, he's the one who was trusted with public office and betrayed the people and principles of the nation he swore an oath to serve.
Private companies are profit making enterprises and are treated as such, with as much trust as their actions engender. This man was a public servant, granted legal authority to match the responsibilities he swore to fulfill. We must remember that...
"law is force, and that, consequently, the proper functions of the law cannot lawfully extend beyond the proper functions of force.
"When law and force keep a person within the bounds of justice, they impose nothing but a mere negation. They oblige him only to abstain from harming others. They violate neither his personality, his liberty, nor his property. They safeguard all of these. They are defensive; they defend equally the rights of all." - Frederick Bastiat "The Law"
In betraying the trust of his position he sold the law designed to protect the people of his nation to a profit taking enterprise, thereby turning the law into a force for enslavement. The profit taking enterprise might be immoral and unethical to a great degree, but, without the willing assent of the judge, it could not use the nation's law against its own people.
By all means vilify the private prison system and the legislators that allowed it to come into existence, they deserve every ounce of scorn you can lay on them. However, don't think that the judge is a scapegoat. He's an individual who sold the freedom of 6500 of his own nation's citizens for a handout.
Fine -- but the judges should bear the gravest penalties. They're the ones taking an oath, presiding over courts of justice, and throwing people in the slammer for every arbitrary "contempt of court" violation. They're the ones that should be held to the highest standards.
Just charge him with 6.500 cases of contempt of court. Maybe let him plea bargain himself down to 4.000.
Good compromise?
See, we're having what we call in the computer industry a localization issue.
Here in the U.S., we'd read your suggestion as "six and a half" cases of contempt of court, plea bargaining it down to 4 cases. A shifty U.S. lawyer would be asking where to sign as soon as he got your proposal ;-)
But, I'm all for six thousand five hundred cases; and I'd be fine with letting him off at four thousand. :-)
Well, it feels like that, but we must have equality under the law as well. They should all face the gravest punishments because they undermined our democracy. I do believe however we should have a law that speicfically applies to those in public office, like... gross abuse of public office to tag onto conspiracy to enslave children.
Someone on here made a good analogy. If you're a trained locksmith and you get caught burglarizing someone's home or car, the punishment is increased. Society puts a special trust in locksmiths -- the same way it does judges.
I remember this story a few months ago on reddit, and now this time... neither article mentioned any actions being taken against the company.
Mentek regrets any ill repercussions of their Judicial benefits system but we here at Mentek uphold the highest standards of our current Judicial environment. Please no that we only wanted the best for our unfortunate Government authorized prison nulls. As to our competitors we consider ourselves top of the foodchain as far as affordable, fair and groundbreaking personal deviant dentention. Crime, Does not, Pay.
I wouldn't blame the prosecutors. They often find that suggested sentences are ignored by the judges and they are just as appalled as everyone else when a first time shop lifter gets thrown in the pokey for 6 months.
The judges are the weakest link in that chain, they alone had the power to sentence the kids to prison.
True, but they also make 100 times less money than the super wealthy private corporations and lets be honest bribery is a fairly constant problem in any society.
The real problem here is that as the rich get richer their ability to bribe our democracy increased exponentially and corruption skyrockets. That's why every society that has allowed a runaway wealth gap has collapsed. Justice and the consolidation of wealthy simply don't mix and never will because humans are only human.
Why blame the wealth and not the corruption? Should we assume that people can't restrain themselves from accepting bribes?
The judge must be the scapegoat. He is supposed to be fair and impartial, not ruin lives. Our legal system is corrupt enough that we don't need more judges for hire.
The Question is, did the private institutions pay the judges to steer cases their way or did they pay the judge to improperly sentence the jubeniles in order to boost business? Either way is illegal, but obviously the second is egregious.
We do need to hear a lot more about the companies in question, as they're just as guilty. But:
It's their job to put people in prison. They broke no law, and we don't know whether or not they took issue with the absence of lawyers for the defendants yet. If they failed to at least try to get them some representation, then they've got some responsibility.
They didn't make it possible. What this judge did was illegal i.e. against the laws put in place by the legislators.
Isn't that the judge?
Dude, this is reddit. Sensationalist headlines and emotional raging is required!
http://imgur.com/uamAU.png