–Entering a “Placement Guarantee Agreement” to house juveniles in a facility in which the judges had an interest guaranteeing that the Court of Common Pleas would pay an annual “Rental Installment” sum of $1,314,000, without disclosing payments received by the judges; and,
–Summarily granting motions to seal the record and for injunctive relief in a civil case relating to a juvenile detention facility in which the judges had a financial interest.
The corrupt scheme perpetrated by the judges is an appalling symptom of the shift from state-run juvenile detention facilities to privatized juvenile detention facilities. In this case, millions dollars were given to the judges so that they would send “juvenile offenders” to facilities run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC.
The trend toward privatization is twenty years old. Despite that, do not expect a Google search for information with Google or Yahoo! on the privatization of juvenile detention centers to return much information. (In this case, little information on PA Child Care LLC and Western PA Child Care LLC exists.)
In 1988, the Heritage Foundation published a policy report and claimed the American Correctional Association and the National Governors' Association supported privatization of detention facilities (including state prisons).(The report lists who was critical or opposed at the time.)
Many of the cases the two judges presided over should probably be overturned or expunged. A good amount of the cases involved teenagers being locked up for “stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia”; in some cases, teens “were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.”
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
Despite the fact that prosecutors claim “Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up”, no investigations of PA Child Care or Western PA Child Care have been opened.
Again, the private entities involved in the contract that gave the two judges kickbacks are not being held accountable. However, the judges, whom the state has power over, most likely will be held accountable.
This is a major facet of privatization. The people of the state lose the power to ensure that justice and freedom is preserved. The interests of the private entity trump the interests of the people.
If you cannot raise your voice and oppose the silence society is exhibiting toward the privatization of juvenile detention facilities (and prisons), if you cannot raise your voice in the name of justice and freedom and liberty, then the least you can do is think of the teens involved and the children being cruelly treated and sometimes killed as a result.
On that note, Hillary Transue, the abused teenager with the spoof MySpace page, gets the last word:
“This has been a nightmare…I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my parents! I wish now that I would have had a lawyer; it would have made a huge difference in my case. I feel like I have to speak out about this or it will keep happening. I’m hoping more kids will have the courage to come forward to tell their stories, too.”
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