Unless you live near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, or teach and research in the field of juvenile delinquency as I do, you may be unfamiliar with the “Kids-For-Cash Scandal.” Michael Conahan, pictured below, was convicted, alongside former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., for funneling juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for 2.1 million dollars in kickbacks.
Conahan pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy in 2011 and was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison. Ciavarella, Jr., was sentenced to 28 years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Conahan petitioned for, and won “compassionate release,” citing concerns that he was “in grave danger of not only contracting the virus, but of dying from it.” In June 2020, Conahan was released to home confinement in Florida under federal supervision.
Outgoing President Joe Biden just commuted Conahan’s sentence. Even members of his own party are calling his action outrageous. “Some children took their lives because of this. Families were torn apart,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said of the scandal. “There was all kinds of mental health issues and anguish that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make a buck off a kid’s back.”
Sandy Fonzo, whose son killed himself after being placed in juvenile detention, called the Biden pardon of Conahan development “deeply painful.” “Conahan’s actions destroyed families, including mine,” she said in a statement. “My son’s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power. This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer. Right now, I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back.”
One quibble with her remarks. Biden’s action doesn’t “feel” like an injustice. It is an injustice. There’s a reason why Joe Biden is widely seen as the worst President in modern American history—because he is the worst President in modern American history.
freedom and reason 