The secretary of corrections or his or her designee may provide to any parolee, inmate assigned to a work/training release facility, discharged prisoner and persons convicted of a felony committed before July 1, 1984, and granted probation in need and without necessary means, from any funds legally available therefor, such reasonable sums as he or she deems necessary for the subsistence of such person and his or her family until such person has become gainfully employed. Such aid may be made under such terms and conditions, and through local parole or probation officers if necessary, as the secretary of corrections or his or her designee may require and shall be supplementary to any moneys which may be provided under public assistance or from any other source.