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First Posted: 10/25/2014

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella is on the move in the federal prison system.

A key figure in the Kids for Cash scandal, Ciavarella is at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

He had been at the medium security Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Illinois since September 2011.

Ciavarella, 64, had been transferred recently, but the exact date was not available Saturday. His release date is Dec. 30, 2035, according to the Bureau of Prisons. A federal judge sentenced Ciavarella on Aug. 11, 2011 to 28 years in prison for his conviction on charges connected to the scandal.

Ciavarella and former judge Michael Conahan were charged with receiving approximately $3 million in kickbacks for their roles in a scheme to construct two, for-profit private juvenile detention centers and place youths in the facilities in Pittston Township and Butler County in the western part of the state.

Conahan, 62, has been serving a 17 ½ year prison sentence for his guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy. He is held at the Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman, Florida with release date of Dec. 18, 2026, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Ed Ross, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the specific reason for an inmate transfer is not public information. But he spoke generally Saturday about why inmates are moved. Ross said transfers could be “for any number of reasons” such as moving an inmate closer to home, relocating an inmate to be able to participate in a program and discipline.

Ross said inmates moved to Oklahoma don’t stay there for a long period of time. “They’ll move within a few days, a few weeks,” he said.

Attorney Al Flora Jr., who represented Ciavarella during his federal court proceedings and appeals, said that he was aware Ciavarella “was in the process of being transferred,” but did not have any additional information on Saturday.