Two Pennsylvania judges ordered to pay $200m to kids-for-cash scandal victims

Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan accepted $2.8m in illegal payments to send children to for-profit jails

Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200m to hundreds who fell victim to their crimes.

US district judge Christopher Conner awarded $106m in compensatory damages and $100m in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit against the judges, writing the plaintiffs are the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions".