§14-1-8. Functions and duties - Generally.

(a) The functions and duties of the board shall be:

(1) To manage, supervise and control all penal and correctional institutions, except as otherwise provided in this chapter;

(2) To sell, distribute, process or otherwise dispose of all farm products, livestock or poultry raised, or articles, goods or wares made or manufactured by use of labor or machinery under the control or supervision of the board or any personal property not needed;

(3) To inspect as often as may be deemed necessary every county jail and every municipal jail or prison in any incorporated town or city in this state having 10,000 or more population, according to the last federal census, and to aid in securing the just, humane and economic management of all such institutions;

(4) To require the erection of sanitary buildings for the accommodations of the inmates of such institutions;

(5) To investigate the management of all such institutions and the conduct and efficiency of the officers or persons charged with their management;

(6) To promulgate such rules and regulations necessary to hygiene, sanitation, cleanliness, healthfulness, feeding of prisoners, management and security of all prisons and jails;

(7) To supervise the employment of prisoners within or without the walls or enclosures of all state prisons and other state institutions housing persons convicted of crime, except prisoners in mental hospitals and asylums;

(8) To collect statistics and to make a detailed report to the Governor annually, or at such other time as the Governor may require, concerning the condition of any or all prisons and jails and the inmates thereof;

(9) To cooperate with any court having criminal jurisdiction in the administration of any law with respect to parole or probation; and

(10) To cooperate with the State Department of Human Resources in the discharge of any duties and functions which may be delegated by law to such department with reference to persons committed to state penal institutions and with reference to families or children of such persons who may be in need of public welfare services or assistance.

(b) The board shall be charged with the duty and responsibility of cooperating with all boards, agencies and institutions relating to the administration, operation, supervision and control of other penal and correctional institutions of the state in the performance of any of the functions and duties delegated to them by law. The board shall specifically be charged with the duty and responsibility of cooperating with the Department of Human Resources in the discharge of its duties with reference to the families or children of prisoners who may be in need of public welfare services or assistance. If any man or woman committed to a prison or penitentiary is, at the time of commitment, the parent of a child, or children, under 16 years of age and such child or children need the care and protection of the state, it shall be the responsibility of the board, when advised of such need, to call it to the attention of the State Department of Human Resources.

(Acts 1939, No. 91, p. 118; Code 1940, T. 45, §3.)