Two former Luzerne County judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds of people they victimized in one of the worst judicial scandals in U.S. history.

Court testimony in alphabetical order may seem a bit odd, especially if you’re used to the illusion of court hearings usually portrayed on TV. Yet if you are listening to hundreds of people talk about how their lives were radically impacted by the infamous “Kids for Cash” case, how else could you prioritize it?

It turns out that disgraced Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella won’t be getting a compassionate release after all.

A disgraced Luzerne County Judge, locked up after taking bribes in the notorious “kids-for-cash” judicial scandal, is asking for compassionate release from a federal prison.

WILKES-BARRE — A federal judge on Monday denied disgraced Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella a new hearing on his 28-year prison sentence, which runs through 2035.

After nearly nine years behind bars, former Luzerne County judge Michael Conahan has been released to his home in Florida, according to a source.

Federal prosecutors have decided not to pursue a retrial against disgraced Luzerne Count Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. on convictions that were previously vacated by a federal judge.