§57-58.

§57-58.
   
   Wherever any person shall be confined in any jail pursuant to the
   sentence of any court, if such sentence or any part thereof shall be
   that he be confined at hard labor, the sheriff of the county in which
   such person shall be confined shall furnish such convict with suitable
   tools and materials to work with, if, in the opinion of the said
   sheriff, the said convict can be profitably employed either in the
   jail or yard thereof, and the expense of said tools and materials
   shall be defrayed by the county in which said convict shall be
   confined, and said county shall be entitled to his earnings. And it
   shall be the duty of said sheriff, if in his opinion the said convict
   can be more profitably employed outside of said jail or yard, either
   for the county or for any municipality in said county, so to employ
   said convict, either in work on public streets or highways or
   otherwise; and in so doing he shall take all necessary precaution to
   prevent said convict's escape, by ball and chain or otherwise, and
   fifty percent (50%) of the profits of such employment, after paying
   all expenses incident thereto, may be retained by said sheriff as his
   fees therefor, the balance to be paid into the treasury of the proper
   county to the credit of the general fund; and when a convict is
   imprisoned in the county jail for nonpayment of a fine he may be
   employed by said sheriff as provided in this chapter; and in case any
   convict employed outside of the jail yard shall escape, he shall be
   deemed as having escaped from the jail proper.