The Toronto South Detention Centre was on lockdown Thursday after a week of violent incidents and security concerns, including an inmate suicide and the discovery that a set of jail master keys are missing, the Star has learned.

An official with the union that represents jail workers confirmed that an inmate died in hospital after hanging himself in his cell earlier this week. The police, the Correctional Services ministry and the Ontario coroner’s office are investigating.

The union said this is the first death at the brand-new Etobicoke superjail, which has been plagued by problems since it opened a year ago. Correctional officers have described the transition to the Toronto South as a disaster.

“The staff I talk to are not happy with the way it’s being run. Some have referred to it as a death trap,” said Monte Vieselmeyer, the corrections division chair for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

“They feel that one of our staff members is going to get seriously injured in the near future.”

Correctional officers have also expressed concerns about the warehousing of sick and mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement.

The Toronto South has a state-of-the-art infirmary and 26-bed mental-health unit, but a Star investigation revealed that the facilities have never opened despite being shown off in a media tour weeks before the jail began accepting inmates. One former inmate is alleging in a human rights complaint that he was kept in solitary for more than 90 days after other prisoners complained about his HIV status.

A ministry spokesman confirmed there was an incident this week “in which an inmate was injured and subsequently passed away in hospital,” but would not comment on specifics except to say the death did not occur in solitary.

“(The jail) is currently in lockdown while a security search is performed,” ministry spokesman Jonathan Rose confirmed in an email. “We are working to resume normal operations as quickly as possible while ensuring the safety and security of both inmates and staff.”

The lockdown order, which restricts inmates from leaving their cells, has been in place since Tuesday. A jail staff member who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity said correctional workers are searching individual cells for illegal items and a set of master keys to various doors in the jail that have gone missing from a sergeant’s office. (The staffer did not want to be named. A second source independently confirmed that a set of keys are missing. The ministry would not comment on this matter.)

The 1,650-bed Toronto South Detention Centre, which is currently at less than half capacity, holds accused individuals awaiting trial and inmates serving sentences of less than two years.

The Correctional Services ministry has said the opening of the health-care units has been delayed by “commissioning activities, including recruitment of new staff.” But the Star reported last month that the ministry only began searching for doctors to staff the units in December, 11 months after the jail opened.

“It’s shocking how many problems there have been,” said Jeff Hershberg, a Toronto criminal defence lawyer who has fielded calls from clients about issues at the jail.

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In the middle of an extreme cold alert last month, Hershberg said, one of his clients was transferred to court from the Toronto South wearing only a T-shirt; no coat or sleeves.

“The Don Jail had its issues as well,” Hershberg said, “but even it ran better than this.”