Destroying Lives For Fun And Profit

Just an update on the judges who were taking money to stick kids in a privately owned juvenile detention facility.

There's the 14-year-old girl who was jailed for more than a year in 2005 for punching another girl in school; she was emotionally distraught by the incarceration and today has permanent scars from self-mutilation.

They are among the victims cited in a class-action suit by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center against two former Luzerne County judges who, federal prosecutors say, conspired to send thousands of teenagers off to detention after denying them basic constitutional rights.

As a result of their incarcerations, the JLC says, many of the teenagers suffered emotional damage, were unable to attend school, lost scholarships, were refused military enlistment, or attempted suicide. In addition, they and their parents were forced to pay probation fees and evaluation costs and had their wages garnisheed by the court. Some still owe the court money.