An Atlanta judge issued harsh prison sentences to several of the educators involved in the infamous Atlanta cheating scandal on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted 11 educators of racketeering due to their participation in a massive test-cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools district. According to prosecutors, more than 150 educators fed answers to students and changed answers on standardized tests in order to give the impression that the troubled school system had made a remarkable turnaround.

Evidence revealed that cheating took place in 44 schools among nearly 180 teachers, principals and administrators, including the former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent, Beverly Hall. In the meantime, teachers who tried to report the cheating were threatened with retaliation.

According to Michael Bowers, a former Georgia attorney general who investigated the scandal, the educators cheated out of pride, to earn bonuses, to enhance their careers or under pressure to keep their jobs.

In 2013, a Fulton County grand jury indicted 35 educators, but more than 20 took a plea deal.

Eventually, 12 defendants went to trial and 11 were found guilty.

On Monday, Fulton Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter gave 10 convicted educators another chance for leniency if they admitted their guilt, apologized and accepted a plea deal. However, only two of the educators took the deal and avoided jail, while the rest were given lengthy prison sentences, some for as long as seven years.

"All I want for many of these people is to just take some responsibility," said Baxter in court on Tuesday, according to NBC News. "But they refuse."

"Everybody knew cheating was going on and your client promoted it," Baxter told an attorney representing Sharon Davis-Williams, an educator who was sentenced to seven years behind bars along with 2,000 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine, reports CNN.

Baxter also appeared to become frustrated each time an educator did not accept the deal.

"These stories are incredible. These kids can't read," he said.

"This is the time to search your soul," Baxter said. "It's just taking responsibility. ... No one has taken responsibility that I can see."