The corrupt former Pennsylvania judge convicted of funneling juveniles to for-profit detention facilities in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks had his lengthy prison sentence commuted Thursday by President Biden.
Former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan, the jurist at the center of the so-called “Kids-for-Cash” scandal, was among 1,499 commutations the 82-year-old lame-duck president granted in the largest presidential act of clemency on a single day in modern history, according to the White House.
The mother of a victim of Conahan’s disturbing crime fumed upon hearing of his commutation.
“I am shocked and I am hurt,” Sandy Fonzo, whose son committed suicide after he was locked up as part of the scheme orchestrated by Conahan and former judge Mark Ciavarella, said in a statement.
“Conahan‘s actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son‘s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power,” she added, according to The Citizen’s Voice. “This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer.”
“Right now I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back.”
Conahan, 72, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges for his role in the scheme and was sentenced to 17½ years in prison in 2011.
He was released to home confinement in Florida at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020.
At the time of Conahan’s sentencing, the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania described the judicial scandal as “the worst in Pennsylvania’s history.”
More than 2,500 children between 2003 and 2008 were potentially given disproportionate sentences by Conahan and Ciavarella in order to populate the private detention centers paying them the kickbacks, investigators believe.
Thousands of juvenile sentences were vacated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the wake of the scandal.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement on his mass commutations. “I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities.”
“I will take more steps in the weeks ahead. My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law.”
