12-48-03. Manner of employing offenders

12-48-03. Manner of employing offenders

The director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation and the warden of the

penitentiary shall attempt to employ all offenders committed to the legal and physical custody of

the department in maintaining the penitentiary and penitentiary grounds, in carrying on the work

of the industries established at the penitentiary or at other state institutions, in doing any work

necessary to be done in the erection, repair, or improvement of any of the state buildings,

including the executive mansion, and the grounds of such buildings, or in the construction and

improvement of the public highways of the state. The department may employ offenders in work

projects for county and local governmental agencies and subdivisions. The department shall

employ offenders when practicable in the work to which they are best adapted and in the work

that will make it possible for them to acquire skill so that they will be able to earn a livelihood

when they are paroled or discharged from the institution. The department may employ offenders

outside the yard of the penitentiary in cultivating and improving any ground belonging to the

department. The department must be held responsible for the escape of any offender

notwithstanding that such employment is outside the penitentiary if the escape is made possible

through the negligence of the department.