washington
CNN
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Victims of massive corruption scandals in Pennsylvania and Illinois are angry after President Joe Biden granted pardons to two convicted officials this week.
The commutations were announced Thursday as part of a historic clemency package for 1,500 convicted criminals, whom the White House said “deserve a second chance.”
Two officials convicted in cases that sparked outrage, an unscrupulous judge in Pennsylvania and a notorious fraudster in Illinois, have both already been released early from prison and released amid the coronavirus pandemic. was under house arrest. Biden’s action ended that punishment.
The president is already facing bipartisan criticism over his highly controversial pardon of his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted of 12 tax and gun crimes earlier this year.
A Biden administration official told CNN that the latest sentence reductions are not individual decisions, but rather across-the-board decisions given to people who meet certain criteria, including a track record of good behavior while under house arrest. .
Former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan was convicted in 2011 in the infamous “kids for cash” scandal in which he accepted kickbacks from commercial detention centers in exchange for illegally sending juveniles to their facilities. The case was widely considered one of the worst judicial scandals in Pennsylvania history.
Like all of the roughly 1,500 people who received commutations from Biden this week, Conahan was released from prison due to COVID-19. His house arrest was scheduled to end in 2026.
The misconduct of Mr. Conahan and another Luzerne County judge led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn 4,000 juvenile convictions, and the discredited state judges ordered victims to pay $200 million, according to the Associated Press. He was ordered to do so.
Sandy Fonzo, the mother of Edward Kenzakoski, who died by suicide after spending time in prison as part of a kickback scheme, said she was “shocked” after learning of Biden’s decision to commute the remainder of Conahan’s sentence. I was hurt by it,” he said.
“Conahan’s actions have destroyed families, including mine. My son’s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power,” Fonzo told local broadcaster Citizens Voice. “This amnesty feels unfair to all of us who are still suffering. Now I am dealing with this recurrence of this pain and doing the best I can.”
Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also said Friday at an unrelated press conference in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, “President Biden’s decision is completely wrong and will cause great harm to people here in northeastern Pennsylvania.” I feel strongly that this has caused suffering.”
There was a similar fallout in Illinois after Biden granted clemency to Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dickson, a city of about 15,000 people in the northern part of the state.
She pleaded guilty in 2012 to a $54 million embezzlement scheme believed to be the largest local fraud in U.S. history. Although she was moved to house arrest during the pandemic, she was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison, which is close to the maximum sentence.
She was scheduled to remain under house arrest until 2028, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
“When I heard the news, I was incredibly shocked, outraged and felt a complete betrayal of the federal judicial system, the White House and the president,” Danny Langloth of Dixon said in an interview Friday. He said in an interview with CNN on Friday. .
Langlois, who said he has no political affiliation, was police chief when Crundwell’s fraud was discovered. He said he believes “justice was not served here.”
“I don’t like the idea…that after a few more years in prison, she can walk free in the community she betrayed and stole from,” Langlois said.
Collapse due to pandemic
Margaret Love, who served as a U.S. pardons attorney at the Justice Department from 1990 to 1997, said the impact of Biden’s recent commutations will be similar to how prison populations have grown during the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration. He said that this was the result of a decrease in the number of people.
Congress passed the bipartisan CARES Act in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, which, among other things, paved the way for the federal government to move approximately 12,000 inmates from federal prisons to home confinement. Ta. Although many of these people have since completed their sentences, many remain under house arrest.
“Many of the people sent home were white-collar or convicted of non-violent crimes and were considered safe to operate in the community,” Love said, adding that decision-making was influenced by race. He added that he believed it was tainted by discrimination.
Amid rumblings among some Republicans about sending these inmates back to prison, Love said Biden “simply wiped these people out” and took that option off the table. He said he removed it.
And to those who are angry that Biden released these criminals from house arrest early, Love said, “You should have complained four years ago when they were released.” he said.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Samantha Woldenberg contributed to this report.
