A Disturbing Illustration of the Dangers of Private Prisons - "Kids for Cash" Judge Sentenced to 28 Years

The biggest and most obvious problem with profit driven private prisons is that private prison operators, in order to maximize revenue, will seek to ensure a steady stream of inmates to their "business".  And that in order to ensure/increase profits, they will seek to pass laws or influence those in power so that more and more people flow into or stay longer at their facilities regardless or any risk to public safety, the nature or seriousness of offense, or other considerations that normally come into play.  

While some may question the ablity of private prison operators to successfully influence whether people are incarcerated, we now have a second, incredibly disturbing example of this very thing.  

Case in point - Two Pennsylvania judges tried and convicted for their role in a scheme known as "Kids for Cash" in which they received 2.8 million in kickbacks from a private juvenile detention center in exchange for helping shut down the state facility and get "business" into the new facility.   This month, former judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to serve 28 years in prison and ordered to pay over a million dollars in restitution.  He never acknowledged any wrongdoing - and reportedly told the children he sentenced and their shocked parents that he was just "holding them accountable for their actions."  

So who were the dangerous hooligans these judges were "holding accountable" and protecting the public from?

• A 12 year old boy sentenced to 2 years detention for joyriding in his mother's car.  It was a first offense, no one was hurt, and the child we not represented by counsel.
• A college-bound high school girl given three months detention for creating a website that made fun of her assistant principal (nevermind the First Amendment problems with this one...)
• A 16-year-old honor student who had never had trouble with the law sentenced to 6 months for gesturing with her middle finger at a police officer who had been called during a custody dispute involving her parents and her sister.
• A young star wrestler sentenced for a first time offense of possession of drug paraphernalia (not even drug possession, but possession of paraphernalia).  He later killed himself. 
• A college-bound high school girl sentenced to three months for creating a website that made fun of her assistant principal. 
• Some sentenced were as young as 10.
• More than half had no legal representation. 

On a positive note, in addition to the substantial sentence given to the former judge, Pennsylvania dismissed 4000 cases handled by Ciavarella from Jan. 1, 2003 to May 31, 2008.  

While these are good steps - the damage to those children cannot be erased.  And it will not be easy to piece back together a whole community's shattered faith in the justice system.  

Sadly, as was seen in the "Kids for Cash" scheme in Pennsylvania, people are willing to do appaling things for money - including skirting due process

So what can Maine learn from this horrific miscarriage of justice?  We can continue to reject private, for-profit prisons.  We can continue to say it is bad policy, bad business, and bad for justice to create financial incentives for locking people up.  

Be on the lookout this legislative session for another big push to allow private prisons in Maine.  Help us push back.  Help us defend justice for all.