Corrupt Judges Removed in Pennsylvania - Updated

(MoneyWatch)  Update - This story was picked up by the mainstream media today. Here is an article at MSNBC. It was also on Drudge and I saw a bit on CBS News.

Government corruption has been going on for several thousand years but every now and then something happens that surprises even the most jaded person. This case from Pennsylvania is one of the strangest, and venal, that I have seen. The Philadelphia Inquirer explains that these two senior judges in the Wilkes-Barre area where taking kickbacks from companies running juvenile detention centers. This is a service commonly contracted out by states and localities. First the judges conspired with the companies to award the over $50 million contract and then they pushed defendants to not get lawyers and accept sentences to the facilities. Probably they received a certain amount per day for the number of offenders they had in their "care". The two judges have been removed by the state and received seven years in jail from Federal courts.