Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.8 Million Kickback Scheme

Covered widely in the national media by ABC’s 20/20, CNN, CBS News, and Democracy Now, here for the first time, the full story of how two judges, Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan, accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the owners of privatized juvenile detention centers, in exchange for sentencing thousands of kids, some as young as 11 years old, to their facilities.

Wliiam Ecenbarger, a Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award-winning investigative journalist, previously reported on the scandal extensively in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Now, in a daring new book, he takes a hard look at some shocking truths: the trend toward sentencing offenders to for-profit prisons and detention centers; a politicized judiciary where judges’ campaign contributions often come from those whose profits and livelihoods depend on filling jails and prisons; and a juvenile justice system that is closed to public scrutiny, offers little or no oversight of judges, and allows children to be sentenced without benefit of legal counsel.

Through deeply compelling personal narratives tied together by an astonishing legal and political controversy that lead to charges of racketeering, fraud, tax violations, money laundering, extortion, and bribery, Ecenbarger explores the larger issues that made this situation possible. Kids for Cash will open our eyes to the haunting realities of the juvenile justice system in America.