Two Pennsylvania judges charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers are expected to plead guilty to fraud.

Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are scheduled to appear at a federal court hearing Thursday afternoon

Prosecutors say the two judges took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC…

The director of the state's youth correctional system said Friday that, contrary to assertions made earlier this week by the prison healthcare receiver, his agency has no plans to close the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility and in fact intends to transfer an additional 80 wards to the site if it remains open.

In a letter to Ventura County officials sent Tuesday, Receiver J. Clark Kelso announced he intends to move forward with plans to convert the facility to a 1,500-bed specialized adult healthcare facility that would house inmates with chronic medical and mental health illnesses.

Kelso wrote he did not begin looking at the 60-acre site near Camarillo until after his staff was "informed by CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) officials that the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility would be closed…"

After more than six decades of exemplary service to youthful offenders and the community at large, it was bittersweet last Friday for many of the staff past and present, family, and officials who convened at the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility for a final farewell closing ceremony.

An estimated 1,000 people braved the intense heat, exchanging hugs and handshakes to recognize the facility's upcoming closure and commend those who contributed to its long history…

Workers and residents pressed for answers Monday about a proposed adult prison hospital at the current site of a juvenile correctional facility in Camarillo, as a state lawmaker increased her criticism of the plan.

Camarillo residents and workers at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, which would be closed to make way for the hospital, held separate meetings Monday with state corrections officials who said they are not in charge of the proposal and could offer little concrete information about it.

The site of the youth facility north of Highway 101 near several farms and the Sterling Hills community is on the short list of potential sites for the adult medical complex that would serve high-risk offenders in need of mental and medical care, and which is still in the exploratory phase…

I think I can now fairly say that both North County cities, Atascadero and Paso Robles, are about equal to each other in many respects.

For example, Paso is now fretting about the proposed prison complex that looms in its future. And Atascadero is debating the proposed Wal- Mart that hangs over its future. Paso Robles already has a Wal-Mart, while Atascadero already has a hospital for the criminal mentally ill. And state prison officials are striving to calm Paso Robles' prison worries, while Wal- Mart representatives are trying to calm Atascadero's big-box jitters.

There is a difference, though. The state can pretty much put a prison wherever it wants, no matter what a little city like Paso Robles says…

It is nearly certain that a 900-inmate state prison and 100-inmate fire camp will be hosted at the closing El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility site, attendees of two public meetings this week learned. But the fate of a proposed regional re-entry prison — with 250 inmates who would be paroled to San Luis Obispo County and San Benito County — is up in the air.

Re-entry prisons are places where inmates within one year of their release date receive training, education and counseling to help them prepare for their release into everyday life.

Several things must happen for the re-entry plan — part of a statewide effort to cut down on inmates returning to jail after they are released — to move forward…