NASHVILLE (AP) — State prison officials are closing the Charles Bass Correction Complex-Annex in Nashville because of security concerns days after an inmate escaped.

The minimum security annex housed some 320 inmates who provided work details throughout the Nashville area. Inmates are being reassigned to other prisons across the state.

The Department of Correction said in a news release Monday that staff will be reassigned to other prisons in Nashville. The facility will be evaluated for upgrades or possible permanent closure.

On Friday, an inmate serving time for theft and burglary escaped by scaling a fence. Anthony Walker, 20, was captured several hours later within two miles of the annex. Dorinda Carter, a spokeswoman for the correction department, said there have been four escapes from the annex in the last five years.

Carter said they are reviewing whether upgrades could be made to increase security and at what cost, but they didn't close it because of any flaws in the fencing.

"It was more a matter of a change in the philosophy of the mission of the annex and making it a more secure facility along the lines of a medium-security facility, rather than a minimum-security facility," she said.

The department said while it was a quick decision, it had been planning for this contingency.

"The TDOC is committed to its mission of operating safe and secure prisons and not compromising public safety," the department said in a news release. "While the annex is classified as a minimum-security work release facility, it cannot continue to operate under the current design and maintain the integrity of being called a secure facility."

Inmates on work release will be handled on a case-by-case basis.