NATCHEZ — Some very special guests arrived at the Adams County Correctional Facility Monday.

And unlike most of the prison’s recent visitors, the new arrivals won’t be just stopping by for a tour.

Approximately 40 inmates are calling the prison home.

For months after the construction was completed the facility sat empty because no federal contract was in place to fill the prison.

But now that the first inmates are arriving Warden Vance Laughlin said the facility is filling with new energy.

“Everyone is a little nervous and a little excited,” Laughlin said. “I mean this is it, this is what we’ve been training for. It’s go time.”

Laughlin said for the past three weeks newly hired guards have been endlessly working through a series of drills to prepare them for the first round of arrivals.

“We’ll be doing everything the same, but now when we do a (head) count, the count won’t be zero,” he said.

Between now and March inmates will continue to arrive until the facility’s capacity for more than 2,500 inmates is reached.

The prison population will be comprised of criminal aliens, which have come to the country either illegally or legally and committed a federal crime, or have been found to have an illegal status in the states, Laughlin said.

Of those inmates approximately 90 percent speak Spanish and English, additionally Laughlin estimates 25 percent of the Spanish-speaking inmates will speak Spanish only.

And the inherent language barrier between the staff and the inmates makes hiring staff difficult at times, Laughlin said.

“There just aren’t many people in this area that speak Spanish,” Laughlin said. “That’s not a problem we’ve had in Texas or Arizona.”

But despite language issues, Laughlin said he’s confident the facility will fill all its open positions.

Approximately 65 percent of the facility’s 400 positions have been filled and 70 new employees will start work in the coming weeks, Laughlin said.