Itanagar, Nov. 3: Arunachal Pradesh’s long wait to operationalise its first prison ended today with 19 prisoners being shifted to the Central Jail near here.

The prisoners, who were all men and included six hardened criminals, were shifted from Itanagar police station, the superintendent of police in charge of the jail, Michi Paku, said.

“Another 12 prisoners will arrive here tomorrow from Naharlagun police station,” he added.

Paku admitted that there had been an inordinate delay in completion of the Rs 10-crore project that was proposed by the Eleventh Finance Commission in 2002-03 and whose foundation stone was laid by former home minister Shivraj Patil during his visit to the state in 2003.

It was only after the Supreme Court pulled up the state in July this year that the government rushed to start functioning of the jail which was completed in the middle of last year.

“The Supreme Court had enquired about the project time and again. But we were unable to make it operational as the state government had not cleared the load security amount of Rs 7 lakh to ensure power supply to the jail,” Paku said, adding that all issues had been sorted out now.

Set up on a lush green 7.6 acre, the Central Jail can accommodate 30 men and 10 women prisoners. The rest of the sprawling campus has flower gardens, kitchen gardens and open spaces.

The jail has arrangements for gardening and recreation for the inmates.

“We have tried to make arrangements for recreation of the inmates within limited resources. Yoga and pranayam experts will impart training in breathing and light physical exercise to the inmates,” Paku said.

Another prison, which was to be made functional in 2007, is now housing CRPF jawans instead of prisoners at Tezu, the headquarters of Lohit district.

For the want of proper jails, the growing number of juvenile delinquents are also being forced to stay with hardcore criminals in sub-human conditions in dingy cells of Khonsa, Longding, Changlang, Aalo, Pasighat, Yingkiong and Kurung Kumey police stations.