Two Pennsylvania judges that were involved in a scheme to send children to detention centers in exchange for cash were ordered to pay victims over $200 million in restitution.
In what was known as the “kids for cash” scandal, Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile jail and instead sent children to for-profit detention centers. One of those was housed in Allegheny Township, Butler County.
The two judges profited around $2.8 million for sentencing children as young as 8 to centers, many of them first-time offenses for minor crimes.
The two men were convicted in 2008 for their crimes. However, experts believe the hundreds of victims will only see a fraction of the restitution.