DRDC Part I

There are approximately 22,000 inmates in the Colorado Prison System, one of the highest per capita in the entire US. Before being placed in one of the 27 prison facilities in the state, every one of these prisoners is first sent to the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center. Don't let the name fool you, its not a place where weddings are held (at least not the traditional kind). The DRDC is located near downtown Denver and for all intents and purposes is a maximum security facility. Inmates are pooled here from corresponding county jails throughout the state for a couple of reasons-

1. Physical and mental evaluation
2. Issuing of prison clothing 
3. Risk scoring ( minimum, medium, maximum and super max)
4. IQ and GED testing-in other words it's kind of like the NFL Combine for inmates. (and let it be known I crushed it)

As I was loaded up into the DCT (dog catcher truck) from Weld County, I told you I was with 4 other inmates who had all been through this before. I had a million questions about what to expect at the DRDC and some of their answers scared me. The consensus was that the DRDC is the worst part of the entire prison experience-no matter what level of facility you eventually end up at. Everything from the facility itself, to the food all ranks among the worst of all facilities in Colorado. Inmates could expect to spend between 2-6 weeks in the DRDC before being sent out to their actual prison.

The DRDC is organized into 5 pods or areas. Pods 1 and 2 are used for intake, testing and classification. Inmates usually spend

1-2 days in Pod 1

2-5 days in Pod 2

and the remainder of your time in Pods 3, 4 or 5.

Pod 3 is for maximum offenders (the worst of the worst)

4 is for medium

5 is for minimum

Each Pod has an A and a B side consisting of 35-40 individual cells each. Each cell has 2 beds (bunk) a sink and a toilet. So you are looking at between 125-175 inmates per Pod. Pod 3A is unique because it has cells that are considered super max where the cells themselves are enclosed in glass for additional security. The Pods are large open rooms that are 3 stories tall with all of the inmate cells on 2 walls and a guard tower on the one wall. Every cell door is controlled by a computer in the guard tower. The cell doors are solid steel with a small 12"x12" glass window.

Before taking us to the DRDC, the DCT had to go pickup inmates from county jails in Fort Collins, Boulder, and Golden. So in total I spent 6 hours in belly chains riding around the entire Front Range picking up our car pool. By the time we had finished picking up everyone, there were 12-15 inmates in the truck in 3 separate cells. One of the cells was for females and 2 for males. Each area of the truck had large speakers in it and the guards played music at maximum volume so that none of us could have any conversations. By the time we arrived at DRDC I was on the verge of a mental breakdown having been handcuffed and leg cuffed for 6 hours on a steel bench with 4 other inmates with Metallica playing at 140db.

As I stepped out of the DCT in to the garage at the DRDC, it was overwhelming to be surrounded by 25' razor wire fences and guards with guns. They marched us into a line of inmates that was slowly moving through the intake process. The very first task that has to happen as you enter any prison facility is a strip search. You must take of all of your clothes and proceed with what amounts to a game of "twister" in front of 2 guards. The most demeaning part of this whole process is the "human vault check". I'll spare you the details of all the ways the "human vault" can be used, but suffice to say that once you are in the prison system many inmates turn parts of their body from one way streets into 2 way super-highways for many reasons. The fail-safe check that the guards perform is the "squat and cough". I apologize for the visual that this is creating. The test is performed by squatting down for 10 seconds and coughing. This process will apparently hack the combination to the human vault and release contents found therein. As it turns out, my vault was empty but the guards felt inclined to tell me that they have found everything from heroine balloons, syringes, to small caliber pistols. After passing the "sqough" we were required to take showers and then put on our traditional orange jumpsuits.

Once were dressed, they took our mugshots, and we do both the mental and physical evaluations with the doctors. This included a dental checkup where I was told I was the only inmate they had seen that day who still had all of his teeth (such a proud moment). After the dental check we were issued our first set of prison clothing. Colorado prison clothing consists of green scrubs and black boots. I was given 3 sets of scrubs with 4 white tshirts , 4 pair of boxers, and 4 pair of socks. (as an interesting side note, all of the inmate clothing is made by other inmates).

After finishing this process there were 15-20 of us that were placed in a holding cell and told that we'd be waiting there 3-4 hours, After 2 hours of waiting, a guard came in and gave us some bad news-there had been a flu outbreak in the facility and so no inmates were being allowed to move between Pods or move out of the DRDC to their final prison destination. The reason this is bad news is because with no movement of inmates out of the DRDC everything gets backed up into a bottleneck. No testing or classifying can take place so everyone is just stuck---and the worst part of it is that everyone in the facility is on 24/7 lockdown so once you are in your cell, you cannot come out.

Typically in the DRDC inmates are allowed out of their cells for every meal and for 1-2 hours a day for "day hall". Each Pod is setup with 3-4 old school pay phones, 10-12 tables, 4 benches and 27" TV. But under this flu lockdown, all meals will be brought to your cell and you are not allowed out for anything. The other unique complication was that because no inmates were allowed to move between cells we would be randomly placed between Pods 1-5. They started reading down a list to which Pod each of us would go to. They read through the lists for both Pod 5 (minimum security) and Pod 4 (medium security) and did not read my name, and I knew what that meant-I was being put in Pod 3 with the maximum security inmates.

They broke us up into our groups and the guards led us out to our respective Pods. They led me through 3 steel security doors to get into the interior of the Pod. As the guards led me in there was a stack of books on a table and I asked if I could grab a couple. I grabbed the Bible, We were the Mulvaneys and The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest. (looking back it was a miracle that I grabbed these books because we were locked down for 4.5 more days and if I wouldn't have had these books, I don't know how I would have made it.) The guards assigned our cells to us and gave us a pillow, a sheet, a blanket, the inside of a pen (actual pens have been used to stab people so they are not allowed), a 2" toothbrush (longer toothbrushes have also been sharpened to stab people so they are no longer allowed), a bar of soap, 3 pieces of paper, a styrofoam cup, toilet paper and a towel.

I was assigned a cell on the 3rd tier-cell 303, which I found fitting for being in Colorado. I will never forget the walk up those stairs to my cell. As you can imagine, whenever you are in a lockdown situation, anything that happens in the Pod becomes interesting to the other inmates-especially new arrivals. So as I walked up the stairs, there was a face looking out of that small 12"x12" window on every cell in the Pod. It was an eery feeling.

I can distinctly remember that there was not one single face that I saw that wasn't covered in tattoos-it was on that long walk up to my cell that it really hit me that I was actually in prison. The guards walked me up to my cell, I stepped in and then heard the sound that I have come to despise-the computerized release of the latch followed by the slamming of the heavy steel cell door.

My cell was just like my first one in Weld County. It had a sink, toilet, and bunk beds. It had a 12"x12" window on the door, and an 18"x18"window on the exterior wall that gave me a view of the women's prison across the way. Fortunately, I did not have a cell mate ( I would later find out that because I was a minimum security inmate I was not allowed to share a cell with a maximum security inmate).

The cell itself was so small that I couldn't imagine sharing such a small space with someone else. The cell was 6'x12'-I could touch both walls when standing width wise. I chose to set my bed up on the top bunk because I wanted to be able to see out the window and see the stars when I laid there at night. There was 2" sleeping pad already on the bed so I used the pillow, sheet and blanket and made my bed.

The guard had left some disinfecting spray to clean the room so I proceeded to spray EVERYTHING down and then use the toilet paper to wipe it all down. I can't even begin to tell you how disgustingly dirty the cell ended up being-it felt great to get it cleaned.

After I finished cleaning I just sat on the edge of my bed and looked around and wondered how I was going to make it on lockdown without losing my mind.

The guard had told me that we would be locked down for a minimum of 4 days-in reality it ended up being the longest 100 hours of my life. Shortly after finished cleaning they announced that they would be delivering out dinner soon. I hadn't had much of an appetite all day but on hearing that dinner was coming, I was immediately hungry and simultaneously anxious to find out what prison food was really going to be like.

I had been told that the food in the DRDC is terrible but you never know...because of the lockdown our food was packaged up in styrofoam containers and delivered directly to our cell. The guards briefly opened up each door and handed us the food, utensils and a cup of water. I sat down at the small desk and opened up the styrofoam container.

There was a roll, some peas and some sort of noodle casserole. It smelled ok and so I opened the utensils and went to take a bite-just as I was about to dig into the casserole, I noticed something that just about made me throw up..sitting on the top of the casserole was a very long black and curly piece of hair. I slammed the container shut and laid down on my bed. 

An hour later it was lights out and Pod 3 went dark. As I lay there I realized I hadn't been alone to pray in 3 days since my sentencing. I immediately got on my knees to talk with my Heavenly Father and for the first time since being sentenced to 5 years in prison, I broke down and cried.

Brandon Stephens, Weld County Jail, Wood Group, Sentenced, 5 Years, Prison, NFL, DRDC, Rifle Correctional Center, Colorado Department of Corrections, Jail, Judge Quammen, Steve Wrenn, Weld County, Executive, Oil, Gas, White Collar, Wood, BYU, Masters Degree, Colorado State University, SWIFT, Firefighter, Wildland, Sawyer, Fire, Inmate, Brandon Stokey, Miracles, Centennial Community Correctional Center, Delta Correctional Center, DRDC, Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center, Felony, Sallie Stephens, Greeley Tribune, Judge Thomas Quammen, DA Steve Wrenn, Weld County Court, Oil & Gas

Weld County Jail (Brandon Stephens)

One hour after being taken away from the courtroom in handcuffs, I was in Weld County Jail. They had taken me downstairs of the courtroom, placed me in belly chains and loaded me into the back of a truck with no windows - it reminded me of a dog catcher's truck. Obviously, it's terrible feeling to be put in handcuffs, but the handcuffs that they put on me were way too small. The ones on my wrists immediately started cutting into my skin-by the time we got to the jail (15 minutes) my wrists and ankles were bleeding. Four other inmates and I rode in the back of the dog catcher's truck over to the jail. The bench we sat on in the back of the truck was hard and cold and could normally fit 4 people. I, of course take up a bit more room than the average person and that made the ride a lot more uncomfortable for the other 3 guys that were with me. I was in the middle and so every corner (as we leaned into each other) the guy on the end got crushed. Under normal circumstances I would have at least tried to not lean so hard, but being in belly chains had me feeling like I just didn't care. I let all 290 lbs loose one every corner, it provided some mild therapy for me.

Ironically enough, even though I have never stepped foot in the Weld County Jail before, it had been my nemesis for many years. Having run a lot of oil field business in Weld County, on any given weekend any number of our employees would end up locked up. So Mondays were always a crap-shoot when, due to weekend exploits employees didn't show up for work-having been claimed by Weld County Jail. So there was a part of me that was actually intrigued to finally be touring the facility, albeit under the wrong circumstances.

They unloaded us from the dog catcher's truck into a garage type facility and then walked us into the jail itself. Once we were inside of the holding area they removed our handcuffs, by now both wrists and ankles were bleeding pretty badly, so I was so glad to have them removed.

As soon as our handcuffs were off, we were taken into the booking area of the jail. Booking is a large room with a guard station in the  middle of it with traditional holding cells and a lot of inmates who were sitting on benches in the main area of the room. As we walked into the booking area, I immediately heard the most horrifying screaming and yelling coming from one of the holding cells. Whoever or whatever was being held in the cell was also kicking and pounding on the cell door so hard I was sure the door was going to be kicked off it's hinges. Based on the intensity of the screaming and pounding I had narrowed the species of the being behind the door to 3 possibilities...

1. an extraterrestrial 
2. a rabid dog
3. a bull buffalo

As it turns out-it was just a lady on meth. As she continued her attack on the steel and concrete room, I made note of the emergency exists because if she happened to turn green and break out of that cell, I was not sticking around.

On one end of the room there were 3 or 4 old-school pay phones that those of us who were not in cells could use. I was able to call Sallie's cell via a collect call. Even though it had only been 2 hours since we last spoke, it felt good to hear her voice. She was still in the car headed home to tell our 4 kids about everything that happened. I felt so helpless not being able to be with her to break such terrible news to our kids. We were extremely blessed to have a lot of family and friends there to help. I told Sallie that I didn't know what the next couple of days were going to look like but I would call her the second I could.

Shortly after I finished talking with Sallie, one of the guards called my name and my official 'booking' process began. I met with a nurse to go through a mental and physical health evaluation. After that was over, they opened one of those cells and put 4-5 of us in there. These cell rooms were 15x15 and had a single concrete bench that ran on 3 sides. Once they put us in the cell, the guard walked out and pushed a button and the cell door shut. I can tell you that the sound of a cell door closing is awful-it's only after you see and hear one shut that it sinks in that you really are in jail.

Of the 5 of us that were in the holding cell, I was the only one that had never been in jail before. Naturally, I had alot of annoying questions. How long will we be here? Where do we go next? Do they feed us? Is that lady that's on meth really still screaming? Is there any chance that she will get out of that cell? Fortunately, the guys were helpful and answered all the questions they could. Of the 5 of us, I was the only one going to prison so I knew at some point they'd go through one door and I would go through another. What I was able to find out was that eventually we would be moved to another area of the jail called 'intake'. Once we were moved to intake, a case manager would come and classify our risk level (based on current crime and past crimes). Once we were classified, we would be moved to a matching area of the jail (minimum, medium, maximum).

Five hours later, we were finally moved to intake. Intake is a 2 story room with cells surrounding a break room with tables. There were between 30-40 cells in this particular pod. Since we had not been classified yet, the crimes in this pod were all over the board. When they walked into the pod they gave us a blanket and walked us to our cells. All of the other cells in the pod were full of people and locked down. They walked me to my cell and these particular cells are referred to as 'wet cells' meaning they have a toilet and sink in the cell itself. There was a set of bunk beds and a guy was already laying on the top bunk. I was told to take the bottom bunk. In the jail/prison world your cell mate is referred to as a 'celly'. My celly was a 19 year old kid who had been in a hit a run the night before. He was actually a good kid and if I was going to be locked in a cell with someone, he seemed like he'd be a good candidate. Like me, he'd never been in jail before so we had alot of questions that neither could answer. Ironically enough, he had grown up in the LDS church in Salt Lake and when he was 16 had moved out to Colorado to live with his Grandma. He wasn't active in the church anymore but just having something in common helped us both pass the time. About an hour after being put in the cell, they brought us some food and I was starving! They had given us a sack lunch with a sandwich inside. I opened up the sandwich and couldn't help but gag at the sight of the mystery meat. I was sure it was clydesdale meat or greyhound-or a combination of both. I was 

hungry, but not hungry enough to eat that sandwich, I gave it to my celly and he ate it right up.

After eating, they let everybody out of their cells to come down into the break area. There are 10-15 tables, a TV and a guard desk in the break area. This was really the first time that I was able to see the  different people that were in there with me. The demographic was broad with all ages , races and incomes. From DUI arrests to gang related crimes-there was a broad range of crimes. Everyone was decently nice but I didn't feel like talking to alot of people. There were 3 phones on the wall so I went over to call Sallie and the kids. It broke my heart to talk with the kids. Shortly after finishing up on the phone, they told us that we had to be in our cells for lockdown in the next 5 minutes. I made to walk upstairs to my cell, stopped in front of it to get one last breath of unconfined air, and stepped into the cell. My celly was already on his bed. Right as I stepped in, I could hear the door automatically slamming in succession towards my cell. My cell's turn came and slammed shut. It occurred to me that there may not be too many worse sounds that the slamming of a cell door-it gave me the chills, every time.

Intake does not issue pillows to inmates so as I layed down on the metal bed I was forced to choose between using the blanket as a pillow or using it as a blanket. I used it as a pillow and tried to fall asleep in my first night of incarceration. Sleep did not come easy-I had so many thoughts running through my mind and the cell was so cold. Sometime in the middle of the night, my cell door slammed open (scared me to death) and the guards took my celly out, someone had bonded him out. They replaced him with another inmate but I was too tired to introduce myself-I rolled over and tried going back to sleep. Twenty minutes later I was awoken by the unmistakable sound and smells of my new celly pooping-TWO FEET FROM MY HEAD!!! I closed my eyes, plugged my nose but my ears had to suffer...jail was not my cup of tea..all I could think was, "I'm for sure going to get pink eye".

I was awoken the next morning by the sound of the cell door slamming open. It was breakfast time and I was starving and decided that  I would eat whatever they gave me. Breakfast was some sort of pancake that had the texture of a rubber gasket-but I was hungry and so I ate it. After breakfast we had a couple of hours of free time in the day hall. As it turns out, the only newspaper that they allow the inmates to read in there is the Greeley Tribune. It didn't take the guards or inmates long to read the story on me and start to talk to me about it. Everyone had read the 'money laundering' charge and assumed I was running a ponzi scheme. They started calling me 'Bernie TooTall' as in Bernie Madoff. It didn't matter how much I had nothing to do with a ponzi scheme-but the nickname stuck for the rest of the morning. I was even approached by some inmates about helping them with their money-I assured them that they probably shouldn't ask someone who is currently in jail to help them out, they obviously weren't very good at it. I must have gotten through to them because they stopped asking for help.

Luckily by late morning I was meeting with my case manager. She was nice and told me that I would be moved to a minimum security pod later in the day. They put me back in my cell and around 4pm they came and moved me. The area I was moved to was not anything like the other parts of the jail. It more resembled a big dormitory. The cells had 4-6 guys to a room and the bathrooms were not located in the rooms, hallelujah! I was told that I would be kept in this area of the jail anywhere from 1-30 days until I was transferred into the prison system. It felt a lot better not to be locked in a cell and they did give me a pillow to sleep on. I asked around and the consensus was that I would probably be there for 1-2 weeks before being moved to the Colorado Department of Corrections (prison). I immediately went and showered and then laid down on  my bed-still tired from not sleeping much the night before. I instantly fell asleep and the next thing I knew it was the middle of the the night and a guard was waking me up. He informed me that I was being transferred to the DRDC, the first step in the prison system. I asked for the time-3:45am. I got up and was taken back into the booking area where I had started less than 48 hours before. They belly-chained me back up and loaded me back into the dog catcher's truck. As we pulled away from Weld County Jail, I thought I could still hear that lady screaming. But then again, I had only slept 5 hours in the last 2 days so maybe I was hearing things. Either way, I knew I would never be back to this awful place. It was time to begin the next stage of my nightmare journey through the Colorado Department of Corrections.

The night before my sentencing I played basketball with my brother Jason, best friend Bevin and my son Jack. We had no idea it'd be a long time before we all played together again...

Brandon Stephens, Weld County Jail, Wood Group, Sentenced, 5 Years, Prison, NFL, DRDC, Rifle Correctional Center, Colorado Department of Corrections, Jail, Judge Quammen, Steve Wrenn, Weld County, Executive, Oil, Gas, White Collar, Wood, BYU, Masters Degree, Colorado State University, SWIFT, Firefighter, Wildland, Sawyer, Fire, Inmate, Brandon Stokey, Miracles, Centennial Community Correctional Center, Delta Correctional Center, DRDC, Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center, Felony, Sallie Stephens, Greeley Tribune, Judge Thomas Quammen, DA Steve Wrenn, Weld County Court, Oil & Gas,. Halfway House, Centennial Community Correction Center, CCTC, Centennial Community Transition Center, Cell House 5, Brandon Stephen Prison, Wood Group, Brandon Stephens Prison, Brandon Stephens, Brandon Gary Stephens, Delta Correctional Facility, Wood Group, Wood Group, Steve Wrenn, 

The Day Our World Went Dark

January 24, 2018 was the day that truly felt as though everything went dark.  After almost 2 1/2 years of legal proceedings with my former employer, I was sentenced to the maximum time of 5 years in prison. This after settling civilly with them and paying back all monies. Shocked, devastated, angry, heartbroken and scared are only skimming the surface of how we felt. Here we go...

Brandon Stephens, Weld County Jail, Wood Group, Sentenced, 5 Years, Prison, NFL, DRDC, Rifle Correctional Center, Colorado Department of Corrections, Jail, Judge Quammen, Steve Wrenn, Weld County, Executive, Oil, Gas, White Collar, Wood, BYU, Masters Degree, Colorado State University, SWIFT, Firefighter, Wildland, Sawyer, Fire, Inmate, Brandon Stokey, Miracles, Centennial Community Correctional Center, Delta Correctional Center, DRDC, Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center, Felony, Sallie Stephens, Greeley Tribune, Judge Thomas Quammen, DA Steve Wrenn, Weld County Court, Oil & Gas,. Halfway House, Centennial Community Correction Center, CCTC, Felon, 416 Fire, Silver Creek Fire, Spring Fire, Cabin Lake Fire, SWIFT Run, 1.5 miles, Fire, Fighter, Brandon Stokey, Running for my life, Elder Gary Stevenson, Quorum of the Twelve, Apostles, Brandon Stephens Prison, Wood Group, Wood Group, Brandon Stephens NFL Prison, 

To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength. ― Criss Jami

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I approach life with the use of humor, sarcasm, and a good attitude. You should expect all of this within my posts. I have also made a goal to be as honest and authentic as possible. Obviously, this will require me to be vulnerable and I pray that everyone will respect that. My hope is that by sharing these things, maybe I can do some good or help someone from the most unlikely of places-PRISON.

-B

Brandon Stephens, Weld County Jail, Wood Group, Sentenced, 5 Years, Prison, NFL, DRDC, Rifle Correctional Center, Colorado Department of Corrections, Jail, Judge Quammen, Steve Wrenn, Weld County, Executive, Oil, Gas, White Collar, Wood, BYU, Masters Degree, Colorado State University, SWIFT, Firefighter, Wildland, Sawyer, Fire, Inmate, Brandon Stokey, Miracles, Centennial Community Correctional Center, Delta Correctional Center, DRDC, Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center, Felony, Sallie Stephens, Greeley Tribune, Judge Thomas Quammen, DA Steve Wrenn, Weld County Court, Oil & Gas,. Halfway House, Centennial Community Correction Center, CCTC, Felon, 416 Fire, Silver Creek Fire, Spring Fire, Cabin Lake Fire, SWIFT Run, 1.5 miles, Fire, Fighter, Brandon Stokey, Running for my life, Elder Gary Stevenson, Quorum of the Twelve, Apostles, Cell House 5, Brandon Stephens Prison, Brandon Stephens NFL