Inmates, advocates sounding the alarm about pilot program at Toronto East Detention Centre

Bryan Herrington says when he was initially incarcerated at Toronto East Detention Centre in September 2020, he had a good rapport with staff and was active and social when he was allotted time outside of his cell.

Things took a turn in January.

That's when he says several inmates were reshuffled into minimum, medium and maximum security units within the jail. Herrington, who is facing a number of serious charges, including being a member of a criminal organization, was placed in maximum security while he awaited his trial. 

"That's when everything went downhill," he told CBC News. 

Herrington said he went from having several hours a day outside of his cell to only two hours per day. He said the same thing happened to other maximum security inmates at Toronto East.

"That was a dramatic change for all of us," he said.

"It's a shock to our mental health, it's been a shock since the day this was taking place."

The change was the result of a provincial pilot program known as SAFER, which stands for the "Security Assessment for Evaluating Risk." The Ministry of the Solicitor General describes it as "a tool for evaluating an inmate's security risk at the time of admission to provincial custody and throughout their term of incarceration, that helps staff anticipate and mitigate improper inmate behaviour and conduct in provincial correctional facilities." 

Multiple inmates have flagged problems with the system since it began, alleging there have been frequent lockdowns while corrections staff have mistreated them and reduced access to programming.

However, the president of the correctional staff's union says the program is effective because it allows staff to better manage their resources, while allowing minimum and medium unit inmates to feel safer within the facility. 

The ministry said SAFER began in the spring of 2021 as a pilot project at the Thunder Bay Jail, Thunder Bay Correctional Centre and Toronto East. 

CBC News spoke with two other maximum security inmates who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions. All claim the points system SAFER uses to rank the inmates seems arbitrary, and the reviews to lower their points aren't happening on time. They also claim they've experienced and witnessed violent force from staff since the program began.

"People will have good behaviour and their score won't move or it will go up even if they haven't done anything to make it go up," one of the inmates said.

Richard Miller, the founder of Keep6ix, a non-profit that focuses on helping marginalized people navigate the justice system, says he's heard from more than a dozen inmates and their families since SAFER was launched.