(a) If the parole officer having charge of a paroled prisoner or any member of the Board of Pardons and Paroles shall have reasonable cause to believe that such prisoner has lapsed, or is probably about to lapse, into criminal ways or company or has violated the conditions of his parole in an important respect, such officer or board member may report such fact to the Department of Corrections, which shall thereupon issue a warrant for the retaking of such prisoner and his return to the prison designated.

(b) Any parole officer, police officer, sheriff, or other officer with power of arrest, upon the request of the parole officer, may arrest a parolee without a warrant; but, in case of an arrest without a warrant, the arresting officer shall have a written statement by the parole officer setting forth that the parolee has, in his or her judgment, violated the conditions of parole, in which case such statement shall be sufficient warrant for the detention of the parolee in the county jail or other appropriate place of detention until the warrant issued by the Department of Corrections has been received at the place of his or her detention; provided, however, that in no case shall a parolee be held longer than 20 days on the order of the parole officer awaiting the arrival of the warrant as provided for in this section. If a warrant is not issued within the period prescribed herein, the parolee shall be released from custody. If the parolee is presented to the county jail with a serious medical condition, the admittance of the parolee would create a security risk to the county jail, or if the jail is near, at, or over capacity, the sheriff may refuse to admit the parolee. If while in custody of the county jail the parolee develops a serious medical condition, the presence of the parolee creates a security risk to the county jail, or the county jail reaches near, at, or over capacity, the sheriff may release the parolee upon notification to the parole officer unless the Department of Corrections has issued an arrest warrant directing the return of the parolee to the prison so designated. A sheriff and his or her staff shall be immune from liability for exercising discretion pursuant to Section 36-1-12 in refusing to admit a parolee into the jail or releasing a parolee from jail under the circumstances described above.

(c) Any parole officer, any officer authorized to serve criminal process or any peace officer to whom such warrant, issued by the Department of Corrections pursuant to subsection (a), shall be delivered is authorized and required to execute such warrant by taking such prisoner and returning him to the prison designated by the Department of Corrections, there to be held to await the action of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

(d) Such officer, other than an officer of the prison or parole officer, shall be entitled to receive the same fees therefor as upon the execution of a warrant of arrest at the place where the prisoner shall be retaken and as for transporting a convict from the place of arrest to the prison, in case such officer also transports the prisoner to the prison. Such fees shall be paid out of the funds standing to the credit of the Department of Corrections.