Buried in the massive list of nearly 1,500 people whose criminal sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden Thursday is the name of a Pennsylvania judge who took kickbacks for wrongfully sentencing minors to juvenile detention.
Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan, along with another former judge, was accused of shutting down the county’s juvenile detention center and then receiving more than $2 million from for-profit detention facilities as part of a “kids for cash” scheme, according to The Citizens’ Voice.
In 2010, Conahan pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge and was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison, according to WNEP. Conahan’s prison time was cut short during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he petitioned for a compassionate release, and he was released to home confinement in 2020.
His stint in home confinement appears to be what qualified him for a commuted sentence.
People online were really not impressed by Conahan’s inclusion in Biden’s massive list.
“Wow. I think Biden’s commuting the sentence of this disgraced Pa judge is a big mistake. I covered this in my Pa media days. He was one of 2 judges receiving $$ to sentence kids to lengthy sentences in a for-profit juvenile prison,” wrote The Washington Post’s Heather Long in a post on X. “He ruined a lot of kids’ lives.”
The Nation’s Joshua A. Cohen couldn’t make sense of Biden’s decision. “What is his problem,” he wrote in a post on X.
“I remember this case. It was a shocking scandal, caused immeasurable harm, and seriously tainted an entire community’s faith in the justice system,” wrote Jose Pagliery of NOTUS in a post on X. “The conviction sought to rebuild that trust. How will these families feel now?”
“These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” Biden said in his prepared statement Thursday.
The statement added that Biden had also commuted the sentences of individuals who “would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices.”
Biden executed the largest act of clemency in a single day in modern presidential history, including 39 presidential pardons and 1,499 commuted sentences. Clemency advocates are still pushing for him to extend pardons to some of those facing the death penalty—a group Trump is plotting to execute en masse upon entering office.
