Former Luzerne County judge Michael Conahan’s sentence commuted by Biden

Former Luzerne County judge Michael Conahan’s sentence has been commuted by President Joe Biden.

Conahan, 72, was on a list of 1,499 commutations released by the White House Thursday.

He has been on home confinement at his Florida residence since June 2020, following nearly nine years behind bars, as part of a federal Bureau of Prisons initiative focused on removing eligible, non-violent inmates with coronavirus risk factors from federal facilities.

Contacted in Florida, Conahan said Thursday he has not received any official written notice of the commutation and has no comment at this time.

The 1,499 commutations involved people placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, Biden’s statement said.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the president can commute, or reduce, a sentence imposed by a federal court or the District of Columbia Superior Court.

A Hazleton native, Conahan was incarcerated in September 2011 for his guilty plea to one count of racketeering conspiracy related to his acceptance of money in exchange for decisions that benefited two privately owned juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as “Kids for Cash.”

He was lodged at the Federal Correctional Complex at Coleman in Florida for a little more than five years and then transferred in March 2017 to a minimum security satellite camp in Miami, Fla.

His scheduled release date was listed as Aug. 19, 2026 on prison bureau records.

Under Conahan’s original plea agreement, he would have been out of prison around the end of 2018 because federal prosecutors had agreed he would serve 87 months or a little more than seven years, according to prior published reports.

But in July 2009, then-U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik rejected the original plea agreement that called for Conahan and former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella to plead guilty to honest services fraud and tax charges in exchange for 87-month prison sentences. Kosik had said he did not believe the former judges had adequately demonstrated they accepted responsibility for their conduct.

Conahan reached a second plea agreement with prosecutors in April 2010, which allowed a sentence of up to 20 years. Kosik, who died at age 94 in 2019, sentenced Conahan to 17.5 years and payment of $974,167 in restitution and fines.

Ciavarella, 74, is currently housed at the Butner Medium 1 Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina, with a release date of June 18, 2034.

A complete list of commutations is posted at whitehouse.gov.

Biden’s release said he was granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans – the most ever in a single day.

Those on the list have been serving sentences at home for at least one year under the COVID-era CARES Act, it said. They have reunited with their families and “shown their commitment to rehabilitation,” it said, emphasizing his view of the United States as “a nation of second chances.”