(a) The county roads authority may employ on the public roads of the county male inmates who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in a local correctional facility in the county who the county roads authority finds are physically able to perform the work.
(b) On the written order of the board of county commissioners or the county executive of a county, the managing official of a local correctional facility in the county shall send, under a competent guard, the number of able-bodied inmates who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in the local correctional facility that the county requires, to work on public roads of the county, including the adjacent land areas of municipal corporations in the county, or in any quarry, pit, or yard in preparing materials for use on public roads of the county.
(c) While employing inmates as authorized under this section, the county roads authority shall provide for the guarding, transporting, lodging, feeding, and medical care of the inmates.
(d) The governing body of the county shall reimburse the managing official out of the county fund for the expenses incurred in transporting the inmates to and from the work site and in properly guarding the inmates at the work site while at work under the direction of a county road representative and under the regulations that the managing official considers necessary for the health and safe custody of the inmates.