(The Center Square) – Joe Biden’s controversial clemency grant for a felonious former Pennsylvania judge should warrant a name change to the president’s eponymous highway in his native Scranton.
So says Rep. Brenda Pugh, a Republican representing 15 municipalities in the state’s northeastern quadrant, on Wednesday. Her ire comes one week after Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan was released from custody, more than two years early.
Conahan was one of two judges convicted for receiving kickbacks in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to two private prisons, dubbed the Cash-for-Kids scandal. He received a prison sentence of 17.5 years in 2011.
“Conahan’s conduct is forever a blight on Pennsylvania and is a slap in the face to the victims and their families who deserve justice to be served for his atrocious crimes,” she said. “His clemency places complicity and a stamp of approval on his behavior.
“Children are among the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians. This decision is nothing short of a travesty and his clemency is a miscarriage of justice.”
The four-lane highway runs south of Scranton for less than a mile. Local leaders voted in July 2021 to rename the 60-year-old thruway President Joe Biden Expressway. The 46th commander-in-chief was born in Scranton in 1942, living there on and off until his family fled the city’s economic decline for good in the early 1950s.
Biden’s blue-collar roots in the commonwealth, however, featured heavily in both his 2020 and 2024 presidential bids. Nonetheless, Pugh says Scranton City Council and the mayor should distance themselves.
“This will forever be a scar, reminding everyone of what happened here in northeast Pennsylvania,” she said. “My heart goes out to the victims and the families who were impacted by this scheme that has forever changed their lives.”
The state has been grappling with reform following recommendations by the Juvenile Justice Task Force made in 2021. Even outside of scandals like the one in Luzerne County, child advocates say far too many children are being placed outside their homes in centers where they often suffer abuse and neglect.
One of the children incarcerated as a result of the judicial kickbacks was Edward Kenzakoski, a 17-year-old convicted of a minor drug paraphernalia possession charge. His mother says he was never the same after missing his senior year and spending months in one of PA Child Care’s Facilities. He died by suicide at 23.
The Juvenile Law Center, whose work aims to reduce harm and ultimately abolish systems like the one currently in place, played a large role in bringing the involved parties to justice, first filing a petition with the state’s Supreme Court for relief.
Christina Lengyel contributed to this report.
