PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge rejected plea agreements Friday for a pair of northeastern Pennsylvania judges charged with taking millions in kickbacks to send juveniles to privately run detention facilities.

Former Luzerne County judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella have not lived up to their end of the deal, which calls for them to accept responsibility and cooperate with investigators, the judge said in a sharply worded memo.

Conahan and Ciavarella pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion stemming from charges they took $2.6 million from a facility owner and a builder in a kids-for-cash scheme. The plea agreements called for them to serve 87 months in prison, far below federal sentencing guidelines.

"In this case, the fountain from which the public drinks is confidence in the judicial system — a fountain which may be corrupted for a time well after this case," U.S. District Judge Edward M. Kosik wrote.

The former judges have 10 days to withdraw their pleas in light of the ruling. Conahan's lawyer declined to comment, while Ciavarella's said discussions were under way.

"The matter is under careful review between myself and my client, and we're in consultation with the U.S. Attorney's Office," lawyer Albert J. Flora Jr. told The Associated Press.

Kosik considered statements the disgraced judges have made since their January plea and findings in a pre-sentence report.

Conahan has refused to discuss the motive for his conduct, tried to impede justice and failed to accept responsibility, Kosik wrote. Ciavarella voiced remorse in public but still denies any "quid pro quo," the judge said.

"Such denials are self serving and abundantly contradicted by the evidence," Kosik wrote.

PA Child Care owner Robert Powell, a lawyer, pleaded guilty July 1 to paying kickbacks to the judges, who shut down a county-run facility and sent wayward youths to Powell's jails. Federal prosecutors who negotiated the pleas were also reviewing Kosik's ruling.

"We remain committed ... to achieving the goal which we have pursued from the outset of this case, justice for the people of Luzerne County," U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson said in a statement.

Ciavarella and Conahan this week filed motions to dismiss four federal lawsuits filed against them, claiming they are entitled to judicial immunity.

Ciavarella told a TV station that he is sorry for what he did but that he never took cash to send kids to jail, as prosecutors charge. "I didn't do anything wrong relative to any juvenile. I never took a dime for sending a kid away. All I ever did is what I thought was in the best interest of that child," Ciavarella told WNEP-TV on Monday.

Pennsylvania's highest court overturned hundreds of juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, ruling the judge violated the constitutional rights of youth offenders.