(a) Participation by any county in the program is absolutely voluntary. If a county facility is certified or provisionally certified, the county shall be entitled to the compensation provided in § 41-8-106 and shall not be required to meet the additional requirements of this section. If a county facility is not certified or provisionally certified, the county must meet the additional requirements of this section to be eligible for the compensation provided in § 41-8-106.

(b) No county may participate in the program until it has submitted a plan and is selected for participation in the program by the commissioner.

(c) The commissioner shall enter into contracts with those counties approved for participation in this program on an annual basis. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the exercise of this discretion shall not be reviewable in any other forum so long as the counties are selected in accordance with the procedures established by this chapter and the rules adopted pursuant to it.

(d) The commissioner shall consider, but shall not be limited to, the following factors in selecting counties to participate in this program:

(1) Representative nature of the county, including geographic location, county population and crime population;

(2) Condition of existing county facilities;

(3) Current capacity of the county facilities to house additional felony offenders;

(4) Potential for increasing the county's capacity for housing additional felony offenders;

(5) Adequacy of present programs and nature of proposed improvements in relation to certification requirements as defined by the Tennessee corrections institute board of control;

(6) Whether and to what extent inmates are worked or are planned to be worked in county work programs;

(7) Whether and to what extent inmates are permitted to participate in work release programs;

(8) Nature and amount of state assistance needed to finance and operate county facilities; and

(9) Availability of state funds.