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This is why I am opposed to privatized prisons.

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  • This is why I am opposed to privatized prisons.

    This is sickening.

    U.S. Judges Admit to Jailing Children for Money

    Posted: March 27, 2012

    Philadelphia, Pa. – Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, plead guilty in open court that they sentenced children to juvenile detention because they were paid off to do it by the PA Childcare and a sister company, Western PA Childcare corporation that ran the private facilities.

    Ciavarella wrote in a letter to the court,

    “Your statement that I have disgraced my judgeship is true. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame.”

    The two judges face up to seven years in prison under a plea agreement made with the state.

    The companies in question paid the two judges more than $2.6 million dollars to send children to detention. The companies receive a stipend from the government for each inmate they house. So as more children were sentenced to the detention center, PA Childcare and Western PA Childcare received more money from the government, prosecutors said.

    According to the Juvenile Law Center, a Philadelphia nonprofit group, teenagers were sentenced to detention for simple misdemeanors.

    The Constitution guarantees the right to legal representation in U.S. courts. But many of the juveniles appeared before Ciavarella without an attorney because they were told by the probation service that their minor offenses didn’t require one.

    Marsha Levick, chief counsel for the Juvenile Law Center, estimated that of approximately 5,000 juveniles who came before Ciavarella from 2003 and 2006, between 1,000 and 2,000 received sentences that far outweighed their crimes. She said the center will be suing the judges and the companies to compensate the victims.

    Levick said.

    “That judges would allow their greed to trump the rights of defendants is just obscene,”

    This nightmare scenario has long been the cry of those trying to end the practice of privatizing prisons in the United States.


    Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/211740/u-s-...yVw6O7Tk4uZ.99
    Is state governments and federal government saving more money by privatizing prisons more important than the right to a fair trial and due process?
    A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

  • #2
    Because lord knows governments have never wrongfully imprisoned anyone without the help of the free market!

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Aeson View Post
      Because lord knows governments have never wrongfully imprisoned anyone without the help of the free market!
      I never believed that the government has never wrongfully imprisoned someone.
      A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

      Comment


      • #4
        I never believed that you ever believed that government has never wrongfully imprisoned someone.

        Comment


        • #5
          It's certainly providing more conflict of interests where corrupt parties can make more money by putting people in prison who really don't belong there. Somethings should just be run by the government in order to eliminate such conflicts of interest.
          Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Dinner View Post
            It's certainly providing more conflict of interests where corrupt parties can make more money by putting people in prison who really don't belong there. Somethings should just be run by the government in order to eliminate such conflicts of interest.
            Exactly. Government-run prisons are not without flaws and injustice, but you certainly should not pour gasoline on the fire by having privatized prisons.

            You then create the situation where private prison corporations buy judges.
            A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

            Comment


            • #7
              Shouldn't the corporations face criminal charges as well?

              JM
              Jon Miller-
              I AM.CANADIAN
              GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

              Comment


              • #8
                Shouldn't the corporations face criminal charges as well?

                JM
                Jon Miller-
                I AM.CANADIAN
                GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Jon Miller View Post
                  Shouldn't the corporations face criminal charges as well?

                  JM
                  Yes, they should! And from the article, sounds like the companies will be sued.
                  A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    That isn't criminal charges.

                    JM
                    Jon Miller-
                    I AM.CANADIAN
                    GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      That isn't criminal charges.

                      JM
                      Jon Miller-
                      I AM.CANADIAN
                      GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        You really are impaired aren't you, Jon?
                        Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                        "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                        He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Jon, you understand what a corporation is, right? By definition, it cannot face criminal charges. Now, members of the corporation can face criminal charges, if they have committed crimes.
                          If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                          ){ :|:& };:

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Jon Miller View Post
                            Shouldn't the corporations face criminal charges as well?

                            JM
                            They almost never do. Typically corporations just get a small fine which amounts to nothing to them and they carry on as if nothing happened. I'd be all for executives going to prison and shareholders getting wiped out in cases of criminal wrong doing but it almost never happens.
                            Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                              Jon, you understand what a corporation is, right? By definition, it cannot face criminal charges. Now, members of the corporation can face criminal charges, if they have committed crimes.
                              That's why we need a corporate death penalty where limited liability is forfeit due to criminal actions.
                              Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                              Comment

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