President Biden has angered Pennsylvanians by commuting the sentence of a corrupt judge who was jailed for more than 17 years after being arrested for accepting kickbacks for sending juveniles to commercial detention facilities.
In what became known as the Children's Cash Scandal, former Judge Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and ordered 280 He shared illegal payments of $10,000. Another judge, Mark Ciavarella, was also involved in the illegal scheme, and its effects are still being felt by victims and their families.
The scandal is considered the largest judicial corruption case in Pennsylvania history, and the state Supreme Court threw out nearly 4,000 juvenile convictions involving more than 2,300 children after the scheme was uncovered.
Biden commutes prison sentences of 1,500 people, pardons 39 others: 'largest single-day pardon'
Former Luzerne County Court Judges Michael Conahan (left) and Mark Ciavarella (right) leave the U.S. District Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Citizen Voice, Mark Moran)
Mr. Conahan, 72, pleaded guilty in 2010 to one count of racketeering conspiracy, but was forced to plead guilty in 2020 with six years left on his sentence due to health concerns related to COVID-19. He was released from prison and placed under home confinement.
But Mr. Biden, Mr. Scranton's so-called favorite son, on Thursday commuted Mr. Conahan's sentence as part of the largest one-day clemency act in modern history, reducing the sentences of about 1,500 people and bringing them to 39. granted amnesty.
“My Administration will continue to review clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances. ” said the president.
Sandy Fonzo once confronted Ciavarella outside a federal courthouse after her son was in juvenile detention and committed a crime.tHe said he committed suicide and called the president's actions “unjust” and “extremely painful.”
“I am shocked and hurt,” Fonzo said in a statement, according to Citizen Voice. “Conahan's actions have destroyed families, including mine, and my son's death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power. This pardon is an injustice to all of us who continue to suffer. I feel that now I can sort out my thoughts and do the best I can to deal with the pain this has caused. ”
The decision raises questions about why Biden would choose to commute the sentence of a judge disliked in the region.
Fox News reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro opposed the president's actions, arguing that the judge should have given him a longer prison sentence given the damage caused to his family.
“I feel very strongly that President Biden is completely wrong and has caused tremendous pain here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said at a news conference in Scranton on Friday. He added that he was not doing so.
“This has affected families in a really deep, deep, sad way, not just in the eyes of the community, like the children's cash scandal, but there have also been children who have lost their lives because of this. There were all kinds of mental health issues and suffering that resulted from a corrupt judge deciding to make money off a child's back.
“Frankly, I thought the sentence the judge handed down was too lenient. And I think it's important to note that in recent years he has been allowed to leave due to the coronavirus, has been under house arrest, and now he has been given a pardon. I think that's completely wrong. He should be in prison for at least the 17 years that a jury of his peers sentenced him to, and he shouldn't walk away as a free man.”
The plan began in 2002 when Conahan closed the state juvenile detention center and used Luzerne County's budget to finance a multimillion-dollar lease for a private facility.
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In this February 18, 2011 file photo, Sandy Fonzo (right) of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, greets former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. as he leaves the federal courthouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania. is facing. Fonzo's son was imprisoned by Ciavarella at the age of 17 and committed suicide at the age of 23. (AP Photo/Scranton Times Tribune, Michael J. Mullen)
Mr. Ciavarella, who presided over the juvenile court, promoted a zero-tolerance policy that ensured that large numbers of children were sent to PA Childcare and its sister facility, Western PA Childcare.
Ciavarella ordered the detention of children as young as 8 years old, many of whom were considered delinquent for first-time offenses such as petty theft, pedestrian crossing, truancy, and smoking on school grounds. Other minor violations. Judges often ordered young people discovered to be delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed, and taken away without a chance to defend themselves or say goodbye to their families.
In 2022, Mr. Conahan and Mr. Ciavarella were ordered to pay more than $200 million to about 300 victims, but it is unlikely that the adult victims will receive even a portion of the damages.
During the lawsuit, one victim described how she would shake uncontrollably during a routine traffic stop as a result of the traumatic effects of her childhood detention, and said, “Why was my behavior so erratic?'' He said he had to present his mental health records in court to “explain what happened to him.”
Several of the childhood victims who were present when the case began in 2009 have since died of overdoses or suicide, prosecutors said.
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President Biden spoke Tuesday at Everyone's Christmas Dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to The Citizens Voice, the plan included former Pennsylvania attorney Robert Powell paying Ciavarella and Conahan $770,000 to funnel juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers that Powell partly owns. was.
Mr. Powell pleaded guilty to felony charges of failure to report a felony and participating in a conspiracy and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Real estate developer Robert K. Mericle paid the judge $2.1 million and was later indicted on charges of failing to disclose to investigators and a grand jury that he knew the judge was defrauding the government. According to The Citizens Voice, Mericle served one year in federal prison.
According to the magazine, Ciavarella is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for honest services email fraud.
Fox News' Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
