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ojbyrne

"He was also forced to pay $1 million in restitution."

I'm not sure who else other than the families would get that.

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The IRS. He was convicted of wire fraud and tax fraud.[1]

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted...

Honestly that's kind of disgusting. One arm of the "system" fucked people's lives up. But restitution goes to another arm of the same system.

I like how the "system" is such a vague and amorphous concept that you had to put it in air quotes.

To be clear: he didn't steal from the victims, so it is impossible to pay them restitution. He doesn't have years of life to give to them.

He should pay punitive damages though.

So about $250 per family, that seems fair...

Well this was a criminal case, it seems pretty likely that a very successful civil lawsuit will follow. That said, the idea that the monetary penalty is less than he actually made is just bizarre.

Actually the 1 million seems to just be the tax he should have paid on the income.

"The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care."

The prison sentence was the punishment of the wrongful imprisonments.

What really blows my mind is that elsewhere on HN today there was an article about asset forfeiture and police forcing a couple to turn over about $6k that was found in their car without ever even arresting or charging them. So why exactly doesn't this judge have to forfeit the assets he acquired through these kickbacks?! It's an illustration of just how unfair and ineffective our legal system really is, especially in terms of its treatment of the poor and/or uneducated.

Who will those families all sue though that will 1) let them, and 2) have enough money so that all of them get reasonable restitution?

The state. Their AG, et al on down allowed this heinous act of gross miscarriage of justice. These innocent youngsters are scarred for life. Being a state conspiracy by the Rico Act these victimized youth could be awarded treble damages. Like the charge of espionage over ES' head with draconian punishment of life in prison, or the inflated charges on Aaron Swartz,arguably to send a message to future whistle blowers and `hackers', the state criminal justice system must live in fear of the punitive consequences of malpractice. Seems to be how everything gets decided today.

How about the prison owners?

True, though split among 4000 children I can't imagine that is going to go very far either.

I wonder if the prison and owners has enough money the pay for this.

Don't worry, they'll find someone with enough money to be worth suing. Anyone will do, guilty or not, so long as they have money.

Lawyers

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