(1) Whenever any inmate dies in the penitentiary, the warden shall forthwith notify the commissioner of correction, if practicable, and summon at least one (1) licensed physician of the county of the prison to examine the body of the deceased, whose duty it is to attend and ascertain, as nearly as may be, the cause of death, and report the cause to the commissioner. The warden shall not permit the body to be buried until that examination is made.
(2) If the body is not applied for by the friends of the deceased, nor for medical and surgical science under the provisions of the law, within a convenient time after the examination, the warden shall have it decently interred in the burying place provided for the penitentiary.