WATCH ABOVE: Some guards at the new ‘super jail’ are saying that the new facility is more dangerous than old ones. Sean Mallen reports.
TORONTO – The vice president of the union representing jail guards says the rollout of Toronto’s new South Detention Centre (TSDC) has been a “disaster” and in some respects worse than the old jails it is replacing – partly because of the Corrections Ministry’s failure to take advice from frontline staff.
The $600 million facility started accepting inmates last January; more than a year after construction was completed. By mid-December it was still operating at less than half capacity, housing approximately 720 inmates, even though it was built to contain 1650.
Corrections Minister Yasir Naqvi told Global News that a gradual, careful rollout was always part of the plan, given the size and complexity of the institution.
“It is a large facility. It’s a new facility. We need to make sure the community is safe. We need to make sure our correctional staff is safe,” said Naqvi in an interview in his Queen’s Park office.
But there have been technical glitches.
Electronic doors have malfunctioned, in one incident causing staff to be locked up in a secure area for an hour. In another instance, inmates broke three supposedly shatter proof windows.
A ministry spokesman told Global News in a statement that it has “resolved operating issues surrounding the integrated electronic security system” and the “windows performed as designed.”
READ MORE: Assaults on staff at Ontario prisons skyrocketing
The Toronto Star reported the infirmary and a unit for inmates suffering from mental health problems have yet to open, even though they were both highlighted in a media tour of the facility in the fall of 2013.
PC MPP Steve Clark, who has been following the prison’s problems, said the commissioning has been bungled.
“It’s been a disaster. And I think part of the reason why ministers were shuffled was because of the problems,” he said.
The Toronto South Detention Centre replaces the old Don Jail and Toronto West Detention Centre and was intended to answer decades of criticism of overcrowded, dangerous provincial corrections facilities.
Sheldon Small, the vice president of OPSEU, which represents correctional staff, laughed when asked his opinion of the jail’s mission to the best in Ontario.
“We have some challenges. We definitely have some challenges,” he said.
READ MORE: Ontario’s short-staffed jails face chronic lockdowns, staff, inmates say
The guards are particularly upset about the new “direct supervision” protocol for the TSDC. The protocol requires corrections staff to have more face to face contact with inmates, rather than observing them from a distance. The union, OPSEU, argued strenuously against it, fearing it would put guards more at risk of assault.
Small said their input was ignored and as a result he believes the new jail is actually worse than the ones it replaced.
“To be perfectly honest I’ve never experienced anything like this in the 12 years that I’ve been doing this job,” he said. “They’re trying a new concept, they say it works really well, but really it’s an experiment being run on us.”
Corrections Minister Naqvi believes that direct supervision will lead to a safer jail.
“Studies have shown that that allows for tension to decrease and creates a better working relationship between correctional staff and the inmates,” he said.
He said the rollout of the South Detention Centre is on schedule, but would not speculate as to when it would be operating at full capacity.
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