Prisons chief is stepping down after failed execution of Christa Pike

The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning, the first major shake-up since the stunning failed execution of Christa Pike landed her on a ventilator at a hospital.

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday.

Strada said in a statement that resigning was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review determines what happened Wednesday when the state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug.

“I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred,” Strada said.

Pike was taken to a hospital, where she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the following hours, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.

Hospital staff were working to save Pike’s life and, as of late Thursday, were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital, which the state uses to execute prisoners, lawyers said.