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War, peace, and the presidency. I'm Amy Goodman. President Biden is facing fierce condemnation for granting clemency to

former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan, one of two judges jailed in the notorious Kids for Cash scandal in 2011.

Conahan was sentenced to 17 1/2 years for accepting nearly $3 million in kickbacks

for sending 2,300 children, some as young as 8 years old, to for-profit prisons on false charges. On Friday, Pennsylvania's

Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro criticized Biden's decision. "I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong

and created, did a lot of pain here, uh, in northeastern Pennsylvania. This was not only a black eye on the community, the

Kids for Cash scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways. Some children took

their lives because of this. Families were torn apart." On Monday, Democracy Now! spoke to Washington Post columnist Heather Long,

who covered the Kids for Cash scandal as a reporter in Pennsylvania. "This was a huge mistake by

President Biden to grant clemency, to reduce the sentence for Michael Conahan, the former judge from Luzerne County,

Pennsylvania, uh, who was one of the two judges involved in that really heinous Kids for Cash scandal. We're talking

about sending thousands of kids to for-profit detention facilities, many of whom were first-time offenders who probably should have had community service or

some sort of a slap on the wrist, and instead they were sent to a detention facility for months, in some cases years. So many

negative consequences happened because of that. That many of those young people ended up, uh, depressed, addicted, didn't graduate high school, some lost

Scholarships? It was just a chain of events of tragedy, and Michael Conahan willingly did this. He knew about it; he purposely

blocked a county government facility built so that these for-profit centers could be built. Some of the cash kickbacks were delivered as cash in a

shoebox or routed through a Florida condo that he and the other judge set up to funnel money. I mean, there was just so

much that was knowingly done that was wrong here, and then an attempt to stymy any attempts to stop it or any attempts

to prosecute it. So it's just really hard for anybody who lived through this in Pennsylvania—I got my start there as a

journalist—to believe that President Biden could do this and, you know, would want to give this particular person, who

gave no one a second chance, this kind of leniency. That was Washington Post columnist Heather Long. Her new article

is headlined, "Biden gave 'kids for cash' judge clemency. That's how broken this process is."  The scandal was the

focus of the 2013 documentary, *Kids for Cash*, directed by Robert May, who'll join us in a minute. This is the film's

trailer. "She was a good kid. She was happy." "I was known for being the jokester." "Eddie, he was always a

fireball." "We were talking about how funny it would be if we made a fake MySpace page about my vice principal." "I was

trying to stay out of trouble. That's when everything started." "Whatever sins you have committed, you can't go back and

undo it." "Chiverella was a no-nonsense, zero-tolerance judge. He always jailed kids." "You are going to experience prison.

I'll be glad to put you there." "The way Chiverella ran in the courtroom, you could have had Effie Bailey there and

the kids would have gone away." "There's a mechanism that takes over that keeps kids in that system. No one listened."

because we were kids, there was never any instance of guilt or innocence. They were locking up a really high number of kids appearing

without counsel. We have no rights. He's in their custody now. It is unbelievable. We're talking about children. I wanted

them to be scared out of their minds. I don't understand how that was a bad thing. [Music]

Former Luzerne County judge faces charges tonight in a scandal known as "Kids for Cash." $2.6 million in return for

sentencing kids to juvenile detention. I've never said, "Send a kid away for a penny." I'm not this mad judge who was

just putting them in shackles, throwing kids away. He went there as a free-spirited kid; he came out a hardened man, I would say.

Here I was saying we can trust that judge to be fair, and that's not what happened. I was scared.

Everything. I was only 14. All those years I [Music] missed. This is not a case for

kidnap. You're ruining my life. I still wake up from nightmares. The trailer from the film "Kids for Cash," directed by Robert May,

he's joining us from Pittston, Pennsylvania, and in Harvey's Lake, Pennsylvania, we're joined by Sandy Fonso.

The other judge involved in the "Kids for Cash" scandal, Mark Ciavarella, sentenced Sandy's 17-year-old son to 30 days in a

juvenile boot camp for a minor charge of having drug paraphernalia. At the time, Ed was a star

wrestler in high school. Sandy Fonso says her son's sentence started him on a path to the adult court system that

culminated in his death by suicide. Robert May, Sandy Fonso, welcome to Democracy Now! And I also, even before we

start with Sandy's story, I want to give out the suicide hotline number: it's 988. Whenever we deal with suicide, it's so

It's important for people to know that there are people to talk to. Sandy, let's take us back in time. Talk about what happened.

Ed, uh, this is very, um, emotional and very heavy, just hearing and having to relive all of this. I mean, this is just...

reopening wounds that have never healed, and this is very, very difficult, very, very heavy. Um, I shouldn't be having to

relive this, especially at Christmas time. I mean, this is just... it's unacceptable. Um, I'm so sorry, Sandy, that

we are asking you to do this. You have been so incredibly brave in talking about this over the years, and I'm so

sorry this has been all reopened for you at this moment with President Biden's pardon of one of the judges. So, um, if you

know... and I need to talk about... I need to defend my son because he's not here to defend himself, and I am his mother

and I always will be. So, I appreciate being here and getting to talk to you. It's just very difficult for

me. It just shows how brave you are. So, if you could take us back in time and explain what happened for people who

don't know in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and what happened. Why did your son end up in court to begin with?

My son did nothing more than anything that most of us, as you know, kids did. You know, um, experimenting and living his

life and making mistakes, um, that we usually all get to just learn and evolve and grow from. He did nothing more than

be at an underage drinking party with tons of other kids, but he was caught and he went in front of Judge

Shively, because this is the process that they had. And, and you know, you're you're trusting in this system that you know these

are... this is, you know, the good for our kids. And I was told this is, you know, just to scare him, to get him back on

I tracked to make sure you know he's everything is well and he went into the County Juvenile Detention

Center for a month and in that time he wanted nothing more than to understand what he was missing in

his life. He just wanted to get back home. It was his senior year about to begin; he wanted to get

back into his wrestling training, um, just get back into his life. Um, and I had the teachers, I had his coaches, um,

myself talking and sending letters to the judge's chambers to share my son's character and explain all of

this. I was 100% sure; there was no doubt in my mind that when we went in

front of that judge, my son was coming home with me that day. But that didn't happen, and he was sent to that Juvenile

Detention Center in Pittston. And I believe, uh, it was like eight months. Um, he lost his senior year; he never had the

chance to wrestle again, any chance that he had for a scholarship. Um, he came out of there very bitter, very

angry, pent up with anger. He couldn't look you in the eye. I don't know what happened in that facility. My son was a

very big, strong, proud boy, um, and he came out broken. I don't know what happened. I try not to think about what

happened, and he would never talk about it. But something bad happened to him in there, um, and it snowballed. He

just never recovered. He got into a fight and had to go back into the court system, and actually those charges

were dropped; they were not found. But because he was on probation from Judge Chivel, he sent him away again, even

though he was found not guilty of those charges. And this time he was sent to another for-profit center, which was

Five hours from our home, it was in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He did a year there and then was released if he would do this boot camp, which he excelled at. They couldn't speak more highly of my son and his character and the discipline that he showed.

But it just never ended; it just snowballed. It changed him; it broke him. It stole his youth, his childhood. He would never recover, and it just became too much.

And he shot himself in the heart. And we were fighting this; we knew something was not right. We could not get into that courtroom; the media, anything that was tried, was shot down.

Judge Luda tried to step up, and she was ousted and thrown out of the court. These judges had this power, and they did what they wanted.

They started their own for-profit centers. At the time, Judge Conahan was the president judge, so he appointed his friend, Michael Chiaverella, as the juvenile judge, who he knew would send these kids into the system.

And they funneled them in and collected the money for every bed that was filled. Until this money line was seen, that's when the feds stepped in and all of this came out and it was exposed that they were getting kickbacks from these for-profit...

Sandy, I wanted to go back to when you confronted the former judge, now jail judge, Chiaverella outside the courtroom after your son's sentencing.

My kid's not here; he's dead because of him. He ruined my life. I'd like him to go to hell and rot there forever.

Come on. No, you know what? He told everybody in court they need to be held accountable for their actions. You need to be...

Do you remember me? Do you remember me? Do you remember my son, an all-star wrestler? He's...

Gone. He shot his up in the heart. You SC back. So that was Sandy Fonzo, uh, confronting former Judge Chiavarelli, who

remains in jail outside the courtroom after her son's sentencing. Um, now the man that President Biden pardoned is the

president judge, as you describe. Sandy is, um, Judge F—is Judge Conahan. Um, when you heard about this pardoning, your

response? I was working. I was in my car, and my phone was just going on and off, and I I don't know. I

was in disbelief. I was in shock. I, you know, you would think nothing could ever shock me again, but I was numb. I mean, I

just pulled over and sat there trying to understand what was going on and how something like this could

happen. Um, I want to bring Robert May into this. Robert May is the director and producer of the documentary, *Kids for

Cash*. If your past films are *The War Tapes*, the Oscar-winning *Fog of War*, um, uh, the first two episodes of your part of

your five-part docuseries, *Bucks County USA*, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this January. When you heard about the judge's

pardon—Robert May, about President Biden's pardon—your response, and explain the relationship of these two judges,

where Conahan was in Florida, and what exactly this means and where Chiavarelli is today. Well, uh, I was obviously shocked. I felt

that um, Judge Chiavarelli was sentenced to 28 years in prison, and uh, Michael Conahan was sentenced to 17 and

a half years in prison. Uh, and the difference in in the the length of time was primarily because Chiavarelli did not

acknowledge his full involvement in the scandal. Uh, they both did take money for the building of the

"It Broke Him": Mother Who Lost Son in "Kids for Cash" Slams Biden's Clemency for Corrupt Judge

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"It Broke Him": Mother Who Lost Son in "Kids for Cash" Slams Biden's Clemency for Corrupt Judge

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