Lunacee_2013

Lunacee_2013's Journal

February 4, 2014

Cash for Kids Scandal.

I was watching Democracy Now! this morning and they were doing a special on the Cash for Kids scandal in Pennsylvania. Has anyone else heard about this? Two judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, sentenced thousands of children to boot camps, detention centers, rehab, and jail in exchange for money from the private detention centers. $2.6 million in cash, allegedly.

Here are a few articles about it:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/23/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges/index.html?_s=PM:CRIME

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/kids-for-cash-scandal-2-million-settlement_n_4123236.html#slide=1607575

And here's a look at the documentary about it: http://www.movies.com/kids-for-cash/m69836

There was a $2.5 million settlement for the kids and the (ex) judges were given jail time, but those kids will never get that part of their childhood back. This is just one of the many reasons why private jails, or "detention centers", are a horrible idea. There's just too much room for corruption in our justice system.

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: Sherman
Home country: U.S.A.
Current location: Texoma
Member since: Fri Apr 5, 2013, 10:42 PM
Number of posts: 529

About Lunacee_2013

I was born in Texas, were I still live. I\'ve been a type 1 diabetic since age 3 and went throu canner at age 23, but I\'m ok now. I\'ve been interested in politics since I was 11-12, when I first discovered feminism. I\'ve always been a feminist, but I didn\'t have a name for it until then. Reading about women\'s rights lead me to left-wing sites and I soon figured out that I was a liberal. Living in Texas can be hard for a lefty, but thanks to democratic/liberal web sites I get to keep most of my sanity.