Kids for Cash

Last night I attended the screening of "Kids for Cash." The "Kids for Cash" scandal unfolded in 2008 at the Luzerne Couty Court in Pennsylvania. Judge Mark Ciavarella and his partner Michael Conahan were accused of accepting money from two private for-profit juvenile facilities. This exchange of money (for kids) had been going on for (too) many years before it was busted and brought to public attention. As I watched the film, I saw kids being locked up for making a fake myspace page, being in possession of a pipe, and "crimes" that definitely do not deserve any time in juvenile detention center, let alone 4, 5, 6 years there. The parents were interviewed in the film and described how all of a sudden their children were taken away from them and didn't see them again for years. This one girl, who is out of prison now, talked about how she had absolutely nothing to do all day but sit there and get beyond frustrated about how she did nothing to be where she is-- the injustice was overwhelming. She tried to write to a judge, but he never replied and she eventually lost hope. This video made me realize how countless lives, especially youth lives, in this are utterly destroyed and this is heart breaking. One of the boys talked about how he learned rebellious things in jail that he just did not need or want to learn as a 12 year old. These kids are coming out of jail worse than they were before, especially because they didn't even need to be there in the first place. Judge Ciaverella admitted to what he did and said he knows it's immoral, but doesn't think it is against the law. This judge is ridiculous, cruel, and clearly oblivious.  He was sentenced 28 years in prison and his partner sentenced 17.5. Although Ciaverella is to blame for 95% of what happened, something as severe as this would not have been possible without other people involved. This is similar to how like Hitler during the Holocaust could not have done all that he did if it weren't for the other people involved, and the society surrounding him. I did not know about this whole case until this week, which is saddening and I feel that more people should be informed about what happened in order to prevent something like this in the future.