Mark Ciavarella Jr took $1m in bribes from the builder of two detention centres in return for filling them with juvenile offenders

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Guardian/AP

A long-serving judge has been ordered to spend nearly 30 years in prison for his role in a bribery scandal that prompted the state’s high court to overturn thousands of juvenile convictions.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for taking $1m (£617,000) in bribes from the builder of two juvenile detention centres in a case that became known as “kids-for-cash”.

The Pennsylvania supreme court overturned about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.

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