Kids For Cash and the International Crisis

"Kids for Cash" is a new documentary just coming out that follows the corruption in the juvenile justice system in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. A juvenile court judge would get kids accused of crimes and their parents to waive their right to an attorney and then send them to a private detention center. The owners of the detention center then gave the judge kick-backs for each kid. I all $2.6 million in kick-backs and 3000 kids were involved. The documentary follows some of the specific stories of kids whose lives were ruined by detention, mostly kids who had committed non-violent, petty offenses.

When I first found out about the Kids for Cash scandal I was living in Bolivia working with Save the Children on a project in detention. What was an anomaly in the US and "rocked the nation" (according to the movie poster) was common practice in Bolivia. Kids who were arrested for any manner of crime (sometimes just failing to pay off the police) would sit in prison. If they were under 16 years old they would be trapped for 180 days. If they were older, 18 months. These were kids who had never been convicted of any crime, and most never would be. Two-thirds of the juveniles in Bolivia's prisons are "awaiting trial" or in "preventative detention". The reality is that the trial never comes for for most. The law limits the time in preventative detention to 180 days or 18 months, depending on age. After the time limit, most kids are released and the prosecutors don't bother following up. The only exception is if the victim or victim's family bribes the police and prosecutor to investigate and bring a case to trial.

The "Kids for Cash" shows how prison can destroy young lives. But the same thing is happening all over the world, kids are thrown into prison with serious criminals, often times adults too. They leave months or years later broken.  Kids for Cash-type corruption is occurring all over the world.  Corrupt systems that trap kids in prison.