TALLAHASSEE (AP) — The head of Florida’s prison agency is stepping down.

Ken Tucker, who took over the Department of Corrections last year, is leaving state government shortly ahead of a mandatory retirement date.

Tucker’s last day on the state payroll is Dec. 28, although he plans to be on annual leave until that date.

Tucker was picked in August 2011 to run the state’s prison agency after Gov. Rick Scott forced then-Secretary Edwin Buss to resign. Tucker had been the deputy commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at the time.

Tucker leaves while the agency is caught up in a legal battle over efforts to privatize some of its jobs. There is also an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of excessive use of force at a north Florida prison.