Is seven years a long enough prison sentence for totally destroying the lives of many, many children

[Stinky The Clown]

I don't think it is.

2 judges plead guilty in sending kids to lockup

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM – 5 hours ago

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Two Pennsylvania judges charged with taking kickbacks to send youth offenders to privately run detention centers have pleaded guilty to fraud.

Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC.

The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.

The judges pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Scranton. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison.

Ciavarella has denied he got kickbacks for sending youths to prison. Conahan has remained silent about the case.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h88VgykKcn87UozOYaETJS6yufvgD96A7A200

$2.6M in kickbacks is worth how many kid's lives?

[MrModerate]

1. No, 7 years doesn't seem long enough.

Even taking human issues out of it, 2.6 mill is a huuuuge kickback. I'd have thought 20 years +.

[pleah]

2. No, seven years is not long enough for what was done to those kids.

:-(

[alexandria]

16. And what is worse.They are Democrats.NT/

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. Link?

Or are you assuming that because they're from an effete elitist latte-drinking not-real-murka East Coast state, they're Democrats?

[madrchsod]

3. i wonder how many more years than 7?

they will do 85% of their sentence,lose their pensions,and their law licenses. they maybe sued in civil court once they are released. i`d say they could end up with pretty much nothing

[hobbit709]

4. Times 10 maybe with no parole.

And they need to be put in a max facility.

[hvn_nbr_2]

5. Add up the time they sentenced all those kids to.

Then add a couple additional years.

[glitch]

12. Second this. More than fair, in fact generous. Maybe add up and double. nt

[madinmaryland]

6. Stinky. As long as the Prison Industrial Complex runs our justice system,

justice will never be served in this country. It is beyond moral comprehension that private companies that are accountable to noone are running the penal system in this country. Rather than focusing on rehabilitation, they would rather ruin MILLIONS of lives, making them unemployable and wards of the state so they can continue to profit off of the poorest of people.

This country has been morally bankrupted by the rethugs over the last 28 years.

[malaise]

9. Ding ding

It's that simple.

[Lost in CT]

7. Seven years is a disgusting sentence. nt

[glitch]

8. Hell no. nt

[mike_c]

10. how many is enough?

I'm so tired of the outrage whenever a thread like this is posted. Everyone drags out the torches and pitchforks and the tar and feathers. It's always revenge as justice, the tiredest of the tired puritan attitudes.

How much punishment would undo the wrong these men did? How many years in prison would restore those kids' lives?

There is no answer to that question because no amount of punishment will serve. Does that argue for an infinite amount of punishment, or for none? If justice is all about retribution, then we have to pick one or the other-- anything else is either too much or not enough.

It is time we stopped having this conversation. This lizard-brain attitude is the reason we put so many people in prison. It's the reason running prisons is a profitable business while education is a state charity. We can't afford to teach our children but we can damned well afford revenge against those who piss us off.

I'm sick of it. Why hasn't anyone asked what can be done to HELP all the parties concerned in this case? The victims and the perpetrators alike? The victims need restitution and the perpetrators need to come to terms with what they did, and do better in the future. THAT is justice.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. I understand what you're saying, but I'm sorry .... this is closer to mass murder than it is to ....

simple corruption.

[mike_c]

13. I say the same thing about mass murderers....

Revenge is one of the ugliest human motives. No one is ever helped by it. Until we learn how to work for positive solutions, there will never be any real justice.

[Lugnut]

14. I don't think it is either.

The worst part is the fact that they'll probably be incarcerated at Allenwood rather than at Lewisburg.

[AwakeAtLast]

15. Only if it was seven year in Gitmo

Otherwise, HELL NO!

:grr:

[Posteritatis]

18. Give 'em seven years in the centre they sent people to

That'd do it nicely, I think.

And to answer your question, they sent about two thousand kids to prison over a three year period.

[Lost in CT]

19. NO NO And HELL NO. nt