Victims of a former Pennsylvania judge convicted in the so-called kids-for-cash scandal are outraged by Joe Biden’s decision to grant him clemency.
In 2011, Michael Conahan was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after he and another judge, Mark Ciavarella, were found guilty of accepting $2.8 million in illegal payments in exchange for sending more than 2,300 children – some of whom who were only eight years old. – to private youth prisons.
Conahan was released from prison in 2020 due to Covid-19 and placed on house arrest, which was expected to end in 2026.
Conahan’s sentence was one of about 1,500 sentences that the US president commuted (or shortened) on Thursday, while pardoning 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes.
Reacting to Conahan’s pardon, the mother of a boy who was sent to prison at age 17 before later dying by suicide told the Citizen’ Voice, “I am shocked and hurt.”
“Conahan’s actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son’s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power,” Sandy Fonzo told the newspaper. “This pardon feels like an injustice to all of us who continue to suffer. Right now I’m processing and doing my best to cope with the pain this has brought.
Similarly, Amanda Lorah, who was wrongly imprisoned at the age of 14 as part of the scheme, told WBRE: “It’s another big slap in the face for us.
“We had… time taken from us. We had no one to talk to, but now we’re talking to the President of the United States to do this. What about all of us?”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also condemned Biden’s decision, telling reporters that his fellow Democrat “got it absolutely wrong,” the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.
“I will offer these thoughts as an outsider, not privy to all the information he has looked at, but I strongly believe that President Biden was absolutely wrong and has caused a lot of pain here in the Northeast of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.
Biden’s actions Thursday marked the biggest example of presidential clemency in a single day.
The White House described the measure this way: “The President is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 individuals placed under home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
Attempts to contact Conahan were not immediately successful.
