With about 14,000 fewer inmates in its prisons because most of them have been transferred to county jails, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is sending notices to 548 workers that they will lose their jobs.

The first wave of firings is set for Feb. 29. A second round is expected in the fall.

Those losing their jobs include about 140 guards...

Of the 545 layoff warning notices the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sent out last week, only seven went to employees of the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

As part of a state prison realignment that is slated to reduce the prison population by 33,000 within two years by moving some offenders to county jails, staff numbers are also slated to decline. Throughout the state prison system, there are now 14,000 fewer inmates than there were six months ago...

The National Institute on Money in State Politics released a report yesterday that highlights the money behind the state’s renewed plans to privatize state prisons.

Even though a judge struck down the state’s plans to privatize prisons in some regions of the state last year, the Legislature has fast-tracked bills this session to allow them to take another stab at last year’s plans. In just a few weeks the state’s plans have passed through two committees and are ready for a floor vote...

Florida correctional officers say a proposal to privatize some prisons amounts to the government picking winners and losers. They claim the losers will be correctional officers who would be unemployed or displaced, along with their families and communities. Proponents, including private prison operator GEO Group, counter that privately-managed prisons are money-savers for the state.

Captain Mike Riley, a corrections officer in Ocala, says private operators may throw current officers out the main prison gate...

A 29-year-old man wanted for an alleged parole violation was arrested early Sunday after trying to flee police, authorities said.

A Watsonville police officer spotted Iran Cota Perez behind the wheel of a white Chevrolet Sebring at an East Lake Avenue market and followed him when he left the market, deputy April Skalland said. Perez had a female passenger...

A 27-year-old Corning parolee was arrested early this morning by Tehama County sheriff's deputies for allegedly carrying an illegal billy club.

About 1 a.m., deputies pulled over Jonathan Michael Stamper in a traffic stop on Hall Road in Corning, deputies said...

Deputies said they caught a man who was recently paroled because of realignment after he allegedly stole several items from a Shasta Lake home.

David Weston Allen Jones, 27, allegedly stole several miscellaneous items and clothing from a home on the 4100 block of Willamette Street at around 11 a.m. today, said Tom Short, a sergeant with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office...

The governor’s decision to withhold more than $100 million to revamp the closed El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility into a re-entry facility for state prisoners is not necessarily permanent, a state spokesman said Monday, but local officials want more clarity about what the state intends to do with the place long-term.

“I’m a little confused” about the state’s intentions, said Frank Mecham, county supervisor and former Paso Robles mayor. He said he hopes the governor doesn’t plan to “leave it as a big white elephant, gathering weeds and dust.”

Meanwhile Paso Robles City Councilman Fred Strong has disinterred an old idea: asking the state to sell the land to Paso Robles for $1, so that “we could repurpose it in any number of possible ways....”

A parolee led police in a brief car chase Saturday evening before crashing into a truck. There were no injuries.

Police officer Joseph Silva noticed a vehicle exit the parking lot of a convenience store at 500 Rimrock Road at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night without its lights operating, according to a Barstow police report.

Silva attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled the scene, crossing the center lane divider and nearly crashing with an oncoming vehicle, according to the report...

A 29-year-old man wanted for an alleged parole violation was arrested early Sunday after trying to flee from police, authorities said.

A Watsonville police officer spotted Iran Cota Perez behind the wheel of a white Chevrolet Sebring at an East Lake Avenue market and followed him when he left the market, Sheriff's deputy April Skalland said.

Perez had a female passenger, Skalland said...