One of Tennessee's most troubled prisons has been set to split into a male facility and female facility.
According to a Tuesday memo by Department of Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield, the West Tennessee State Penitentiary will make one of its two sites a female prison and will house only maximum-security male inmates at the other site.
The prison currently consists of two sites that house general population and high-security male inmates.
In the memo, Schofield pointed to the increase in the number of female inmates as a reason to make the change.
The prison has seen some of the most drastic staffing shortages, as well as some of the more publicly reported acts of violence, including the stabbings of two inmates in July.
