It was billed as a state of the art facility, but two years after opening, the cost of repairing the Remand Centre has continued to climb – documents show more than a million dollars from taxpayers has been spent on fixing issues that continue to plague the building.

Documents obtained by CTV News through a Freedom of Information request outline costly repairs needed to the Remand Centre.

It appears the issues started soon after the first inmates moved in, in April, 2013. A work order dated four months after the facility opened, to replace protective glass inside the building at a cost of just over $1 million.

One correctional officer described how easy it was for offenders to break.

“They can use a plastic cup that they use for coffee that could break it, they could punch it and break it, I mean they ended up replacing it all,” the guard’s identity is being concealed for fear of repercussions for speaking out.

In addition, sprinkler heads in the units have become an issue.

“They’re not tucked inside the roof, they’re just mounted on the side of the wall and it’s very easy to access them,” the guard said, offenders often break the sprinklers, causing flooding in the cells.

“Every day, every day a sprinkler head gets broken. If not, two or three times a day.”

The documents show about $436,000 has gone to replacing vandalized sprinklers.

“The fact that they had to go back and redo something that we already raised issues on before, it’s frustrating,” AUPE President Guy Smith said.

CTV News shared the documents with Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) – the union representing correctional staff.

Smith said the numbers were surprising, but said the government knew about the potential for issues before anyone moved in.

“Some of the equipment in the building wasn’t appropriate, some of the fixtures can be used as weapons,” Smith said.

The union had also presented the province with a five-page list of safety concerns.

“I don’t believe at the time that the government took it as seriously as we did, and I think it came to fruition that there were some deficiencies,” Smith said.

Questions over the costly repairs to the facility were brought to Justice Minister Jonathan Denis by CTV News.

“It is a state of the art facility, but the most important thing is constitutionally we were required to maintain a safe facility for the inmates, but also for the corrections officers who do a good job every day,” Denis said.

When asked about the sprinklers, Denis pointed to fire safety.

“It’s an issue of safety again, if there’s a fire in one of these places we want to be sure that there are no injuries or loss of life,” Denis said.

According to sources, guards are to call Edmonton Police to deal with vandalism, but offenders are rarely held accountable. In comparison, inmates in federal facilities have to pay for any damages they are responsible for.

In Alberta, a judge decides whether the province will recoup the cost of damages.

“We have to have due process, we have to make sure that a person actually did commit the offence just like you would in a court,” Denis said.

Other repairs included about $23,000 to replace tile floors in several showers.

Officials also had to deal with a mold issue that developed in the lobby of the facility following a summer storm in 2013.

With files from Amanda Anderson