(a) Except as provided by subsection (b), if the deceased person during such person’s last sickness requests to be buried, or if burial is provided for under article 3 of chapter 73 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated or acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, the body shall not be surrendered, but shall be buried in the usual manner. No body shall be delivered as provided in Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 65-902a and amendments thereto, if claimed by relatives or friends within 72 hours after death, nor shall a body be delivered as provided in Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 65-902a and amendments thereto unless the person or persons in charge of the deceased at the time of death have made diligent search for relatives or friends and no response to the search has been received within 96 hours after the commencement of such search. No dead body received by the department of anatomy of the medical school of the university of Kansas under the provisions of this act shall be dissected prior to 60 days after date of receipt of the dead body. In case the remains of any person so delivered and received shall be claimed within 60 days by any relative or friend, they shall be given to such relative or friend for interment.

(b) The unclaimed body of a deceased inmate in the custody of the secretary of corrections may be cremated at the expense of the department of corrections.