The rules and regulations for the government of the State prison system may provide for the recapture of convicts that may escape, or any convicts that may have escaped from the State’s prison or prison camps, or county road camps of this State, and the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction may pay to any person recapturing an escaped convict such reward or expense of recapture as the regulations may provide. Any citizen of North Carolina shall have authority to apprehend any convict who may escape before the expiration of the convict’s term of imprisonment whether the convict be guilty of a felony or misdemeanor, and retain the convict in custody and deliver the convict to the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction. (1933, c. 172, s. 21; 1955, c. 238, s. 8; 1957, c. 349, s. 10; 1967, c. 996, s. 13; 2011-145, s. 19.1(h); 2012-83, s. 61; 2017-186, s. 2(cccccccc); 2021-180, s. 19C.9(hhhh).)