Those kids who were abused by the Luzerne County juvenile court system had some cash value, after all — just not as envisioned by criminal judges Michael Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.
In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner ruled that Conahan and Ciavarella are liable for $206 million — $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages — for the harm they inflicted upon thousands of Luzerne County children.
Conahan and Ciavarella were convicted in federal court of conspiring to close detention centers as the justification to construct new facilities, and then providing a steady stream of juvenile detainees between 2003 and 2008 in exchange for millions of dollars.
The scandal came to be known as “kids for cash.” Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years, Conahan to 17 1/2 years.
The state Supreme Court established a commission after the judges’ convictions to examine the cases, and overturned more than 4,000 detentions.
In the civil case heard by Conner, more than 300 victims and their family members testified about the impact that the judges’ abuses had on their lives.
”Their collective testimony paints the portrait of justice derailed by a presiding judge who ruled with breathtaking arrogance and an unfathomable disregard of due process,” Conner wrote of Ciavarella. He noted that 79 juveniles sent to detention were under 13 and that one was just 8.
Conner calculated the $106 million in compensatory damages at the rate of $1,000 for each day of inappropriate detention ordered by Ciavarella. Regarding the additional $100 million, Conner wrote: “A more appropriate case for punitive damages is difficult to conjure.”
It’s not clear whether the victims will collect on the damages, which range by specific case from $2,419 to more than $3.7 million.
The disgraced judges don’t have $206 million. But the victims were not just victims of two judges, but of a system that ignored their plight. The Juvenile Law Centeradvocacy group begged the state Supreme Court to intervene, but nothing happened until federal authorities did so.
The judges represented Luzerne County and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The victims deserve to be made whole.
— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS
