MSNBC's article Pa. Judges Accused of Jailing Kids For Cash sums up this horrifying story succinctly:
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
At first, I was shocked to think that judges would be profiting locking kids up, but then, I thought better. We live in a country that has locked up 2.3 million people to expand prison industries in impoverished rural areas looking stimulate local economies ravaged by big box stores. We live in a country that replaces traditional workers with prison labor because it's cheaper. These Judges represent the extreme impulse to profit off of incarceration.
Judge Mark Ciaverella claimed:
“I have disgraced my judgeship. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame.”
Judge Ciaverella, I beg to differ. You have fulfilled the role judges play in our society. You have profited from the suffering of others.
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