(a) The department shall provide for the classification and separation of inmates with respect to age, first offenders, habitual criminals and incorrigibles, diseased inmates, mentally diseased inmates, and those having contagious, infectious, and incurable diseases. Incorrigible inmates in county correctional institutions shall be returned to the department at the request of the proper county authority.

(b) The department may establish separate correctional or similar institutions for the separation and care of juvenile offenders. The commissioner may transfer any juvenile under 17 years of age from the penal institution in which he or she is serving to the Department of Juvenile Justice, provided that the transfer is approved thereby. The juvenile may be returned to the custody of the commissioner when the commissioner of juvenile justice determines that the juvenile is unsuited to be dealt with therein. The commissioner may accept a juvenile for transfer into a penal institution upon the request of the commissioner of juvenile justice if such juvenile is 16 years of age or older and has been committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice for a class A designated felony act or class B designated felony act, as defined by Code Section 15-11-2, and such juvenile's behavior presents a substantial danger to any person at or within a Department of Juvenile Justice facility. In the event of such transfer, the department shall have the same authority over and responsibility for such juvenile as the Department of Juvenile Justice has for such juvenile and shall maintain sight and sound separation as set forth in paragraph (5) of subsection (c) of Code Section 15-11-504.

(c) Female inmates shall be removed from proximity to the place of detention for males and shall not be confined in a county correctional institution or other county facility except with the express written approval of the department.

(d) The department is authorized to transfer a mentally diseased inmate from a state or county correctional institution or other facility operating under its authority to a criminal ward or facility of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The inmate shall remain in the custody of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities until proper officials of the facility at which the inmate is detained declare that his or her sanity has been restored, at which time the inmate shall be returned to the custody of the department. At any time after completion of his or her sentence, an inmate detained by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities on the grounds that he or she is mentally diseased may petition for release in accordance with the procedure provided in Chapter 3 of Title 37. Prior to completion of his or her sentence, this procedure shall not be available to the inmate.

(e) Upon being presented with a proper certification from the county physician of a county where a person has been sentenced to confinement that the person sentenced is addicted to drugs or alcohol to the extent that the person's health will be impaired or life endangered if immediate treatment is not rendered, the department shall transfer the inmate to the custody of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The inmate shall remain in such custody until officials of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities determine the inmate is able to serve his or her sentence elsewhere.

(f) The department may transfer any inmate afflicted with active tuberculosis from any state or county correctional institution, or any other facility operating under the authority of the department, to a tubercular ward or facility specially provided and maintained for criminals by the department at a tuberculosis facility or facilities operating under the Department of Public Health.