The parole board, in the discharge of its duties under this chapter, shall not be required to receive or consider any petition, and it may secure the information upon which it exercises its authority, or upon which it makes its findings in any case, in any manner and by any means that it may consider most fitting to carry out the purposes of this chapter; provided, it shall be the duty of the clerks of courts, the sheriffs and their deputies, the police officers of cities and towns, the probation officers, the officers of the adult correctional institutions, and every person having charge of any other place where prisoners are confined or detained, to furnish to the board and to any member of the board, whenever requested by the board or by any member of it, any and all information they may have relating to the character and history of any prisoner whose sentence is placed under the control of the board by this chapter. In the case of prisoners transferred to federal institutions under the provisions of § 13-12-1, the board may, in its discretion, arrange to obtain information concerning those prisoners from the appropriate officials of the United States Bureau of Prisons. That information shall include, but not be limited to, testimony of the prisoner being considered for parole, and official records and reports, including recommendations concerning the prisoners. The board is authorized to request of the contracting authority the inclusion of provisions for obtaining that information in contracts made pursuant to § 13-12-1.