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.

R.L. 1910, § 4596.