Lucknow, Sep 4 - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday inaugurated the new building of Lucknow Jail, located on the outskirts of the city, that has the capacity to house more than 3,500 prisoners and is equipped with high-class security.

The chief minister inaugurated the new jail from the confines of her heavily guarded official residence here.

Addressing the function, Mayawati sought to justify shifting of Lucknow prisons to the outskirts of the state capital, which had sparked off a major controversy followed by a court battle that she eventually won.

She had taken the fight right up to the Supreme Court, which allowed her to go ahead with the construction of a new jail and to also shift all the prisoners to the new complex, some 25 km away from the town.

Addressing a small gathering of ministers and bureaucrats besides a contingent of security personnel, Mayawati said, 'The old jail was built way back in the 1860s, therefore the buildings were not safe.'

'Though the old buildings of Lucknow Jail were away from the city at the time of their construction, the expansion of Lucknow city brought the jail premises almost in the middle of the urban population, posing serious security hazards.