WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2022) Two former US judges from the state of Pennsylvania have been ordered to pay more than $200,000 to the victims of a scheme they helped orchestrate when they helped facilitate the building of two for-profit jails and sent children to them for minor infractions, a court document revealed on Wednesday.
"It is hereby ORDERED that: Judgment is ENTERED in favor of the plaintiffs listed in the court's Damages Appendix against (Mark) Ciavarella and (Michael) Conahan in the amount of $106,296,945.53 in compensatory damages," US District Judge Christopher Conner said in the court document. "Punitive damages are assessed against Conahan and Ciavarella in the amount of $100,000,000.00."
The court document said Ciavarella and Conahan were paid more than $2.7 million by the builder and co-owner of the two for-profit jails after the two judges helped shutdown a county-run juvenile detention center.
The former judges reportedly sent a large number of juveniles, some as young as eight years old, to the for-profit detention centers for minor infractions.
The fine the former judges are ordered to pay will go to more than 300 people who are part of the civil action lawsuit.
