Senate panel to review plan to close 2 PA prisons

(Harrisburg) -- A state Senate panel is preparing to hear testimony from Governor Corbett's administration in support of its plan to close two state prisons. 

The Judiciary Committee's hearing is today in Harrisburg.

Plans made public earlier this month call for closing prisons in Greensburg and Cresson within six months. Many of the 2,400 inmates from those prisons are expected to be transferred to the new Benner State Prison near State College.

The new prison was designed to help the system keep pace with a burgeoning inmate population. But officials say the number of Pennsylvania prisoners has remained essentially flat for three years now, which is in line with prison populations shrinking nationally in 2010 and 2011.

More than 51,000 inmates live in Pennsylvania prisons, jail or community correctional centers.