Grieving Mother Breaks Down, Condemns Biden For Commuting Sentence of Disgraced ‘Kids for Cash’ Judge

Sandy Fonzo’s son Ed was one of thousands of children incarcerated on trumped-up charges by judges who received kickbacks from private detention centers.

Ed later died by suicide, while. “Kids for Cash” judge Michael Conahan had his sentence commuted by the president last week. pic.twitter.com/8rvh6tGbgx

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) December 17, 2024

A mother whose teen son died by suicide after a juvenile detention in the “Kids for Cash” scandal broke down in tears on air as she condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of former judge Michael Conahan.

Conahan was convicted in 2011 for his role in a scheme that traded juvenile detention sentences for millions in kickbacks. His actions, alongside fellow Democrat judge Mark Ciavarella, left a devastating legacy, including lives upended and families shattered.

Conahan was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy. In 2020, he was placed under home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic with six years remaining on his sentence. On Thursday, he was among the nearly 1,500 individuals whose sentences were commuted in what the White House described as a historic act of clemency. Biden’s move came after he pardoned his own son, Hunter Biden.

Sandy Fonzo’s son, Ed, died by suicide at 23 after being sentenced by Ciavarella when he was 17 to eight months detention for a minor drug paraphernalia charge.

Appearing on Democracy Now to speak with host Amy Goodman, Fonzo was emotional shared the outrage that Biden’s move had caused her.

This is very emotional. Very heavy. Just hearing and having to relive all of this. This has just reopened wounds that have never healed and this is very very difficult, very heavy. I shouldn’t be having to relive this, especially at Christmas time. I mean this is unacceptable. I need to talk about it. I need to defend my son because he is not here to defend himself and I am his mother.

Continuing she relayed her family’s story.

My son did nothing more than anything that most of us as kids did, experimenting and living his life and making mistakes that we usually all get to just learn and evolve and grow from. He did nothing more than be at an underage drinking party with tons of other kids, but he was caught.

…My son was a very big, strong, proud boy. And he came out broken. I don’t know what happened to him in that facility. I try to not think about what happened, and he would never talk about it. But something not good happened to him in there. And it snowballed. He just never recovered.

The White House defended the commutations, stating that those eligible had “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance.”

Watch above on Democracy Now.