NASHVILLE (AP) - Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison company, is changing its name to CoreCivic in an effort to rebrand and diversify.

The publicly traded company based in Nashville announced the switch in a news release Friday.

The company says it will have three specialties. CoreCivic Safety will deal in corrections and detention management. CoreCivic Properties will specialize in government real estate solutions. CoreCivic Community will focus on residential reentry centers to help address recidivism woes.

The company hopes the name change will be legally in effect by the year's end.

The switch won't affect the rights of stockholders or change its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol.

The change comes after the Obama administration announced in August that it will phase out use of private prisons.