Update: Notice (as I didn’t until prodded) that the date on the item is August 24, 2011. Still worth knowing about.
One for the Jaw Dropped in Horror files. A Pennsylvania judge sent children to prison in exchange for money.
Accused of perpetrating a “profound evil,” former Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for illegally accepting money from a juvenile-prison developer while he spent years incarcerating thousands of young people.
Prosecutors said Ciavarella sent juveniles to jail as part of a “kids for cash” scheme involving Robert Mericle, builder of the PA and Western PA Child Care juvenile detention centers. [Read more…]