Running For My Life (Part 1 of 3)

The facility that is now known as the Rifle Correctional Center was originally built after World War II as a base camp for training the military's elite Army Rangers. The high elevation, rugged terrain and isolated location combine to form the perfect environment for mountain combat training. As it turns out, these conditions are also ideal to serve as a base camp for S.W.I.F.T. or the State Wildland Inmate Firefighting Team.

Over the past couple of decades, many of the States in the Intermountain West (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) have started utilizing inmates from their respective prison systems to fill the resource gap when it comes to fighting wildland forest fires. For the most part, it has proven to be a very successful program as it meets the goals of both the State and the inmates. The State has additional resources for fighting fires at a significantly discounted price (SWIFT inmates get paid about $2/day) and the inmates are able to spend extended periods outside of the facility giving back to the communities.

For multiple different reasons, less than 1% of inmates meet the qualifications for joining the SWIFT program. Criteria include the following:

1. The inmate's crime(s) that they are currently serving time for cannot be violent or sex-related.

2. Qualifying inmates cannot have received any major write-ups or infractions during their time of incarceration.

3. In order to be qualified for consideration, inmates must be in excellent physical shape.

4. Required to pass a "pack test" which is being able to hike 3 miles in 45 minutes with a 45 lb. pack on.

5. Colorado has added an additional fitness requirement that is specific to inmates-you must run 1.5 miles in 12:00 minutes or less. 

Fighting these fires is obviously extremely hard work and if a firefighter is not physically conditioned well, they become a liability.  These tests are designed to ensure that there are no inmate liabilities in the middle of a fire anywhere in the State.

These SWIFT crews are typically gone for 14 day periods throughout fire season which is typically April 1- October 1 and they typically work 12-16 hour days. The crews camp out the entire time they are on fires and have no access to showers. It's grueling work as each inmate is expected to carry between 40-80lbs of gear including chainsaws and axes and can be expected to build fire lines and firebreaks all day, everyday.

Some of you are probably wondering (as was I) why inmates would want to do this. Is it really worth all the training and work just to be outside of prison? Here's where the Colorado Department of Corrections has strung a carrot out in front of their inmates. Inmates who are part of the SWIFT program will receive day for day credit off of their sentences for every day that they are working on a fire. All of the sudden, this becomes a very enticing proposition. Everyday that an inmate is out working on one of these fires is one day less that they will have to spend incarcerated. With a six month fire season, inmates could take anywhere from 4-6 months off of their sentence! As soon as I heard about the program, I was hooked on the idea of trying out-now it was time to see if I was prepared to put in the work to get there.

The Rifle Facility is located in a beautiful valley surrounded by jagged peaks lined with beautiful pine trees. They valley floor extends for miles and it's nearly impossible to go a day without seeing deer or elk grazing in a meadow or on a hillside in any direction you look. Sometimes you can get carried away in the beauty of the place-that is until you remember that if you stray too far from the facility, a bullet to the back would be the least of your problems. Ahhh...prison.

Situated directly behind the buildings is a grass field surrounded by a dirt track. The dirt track is as old as the facility and has been rutted out by many rain and snowstorms. The track is anything but level as parts of it are very much uphill while the others have a downhill slope. In other words, it's not a nice regular track that you would find behind most high schools. But, dating back to those Army Rangers and now inmate firefighting wanna-be's-this was where you train.

The track is slightly smaller than a standard track-instead of being 400m in diameter, it's closer to 370m. It has two separate pull up bars located on it's perimeter. On one side, there is a hill that is about 45 yard high-this hill is regularly used to train on.

My first night in Rifle, I laid in my bed wondering if I had the drive to start training for the 1.5 mile test. For the past couple of years I had used weightlifting to east the stress of both the civil and criminal cases. As a result, I had bulked up to 280lbs-much less than my top football weight to be running 1.5 mile races at. The more I thought about it, the more  and more nervous about it I became. I knew I would have to commit to a workout routine and diet that would not be fun. There was no guarantee that just because I decided to commit to training that I could even make the time. Another problem that I had heard from other guys was that of the 20 available spots open on the team, 17 of them were already filled.

The qualifying runs are typically held every other Thursday in Rifle with other pre-qualifying runs being held weekly at other facilities. If an inmate pre-qualifies at another facility, they are transferred here to Rifle where they have to run again with everyone else.

Another major problem was shoes. Upon entering the Colorado Prison System, all inmates are issued a set of military style short boots. Think black plastic Doc Martin knock off style. The insoles are a cardboard type of material, they are terrible. In order to get running shoes you must order them through the commissary and those orders are taken at the first of the month and take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to be delivered. Seeing as how I was not in my final facility until February 22, I would have to wait until the end of March to get mine, and that was with a bit of luck!

So I was going to be training in my boots-which was terrible. I called Sallie to get her thoughts and she thought it was a no-brainer-I should do it. Easy for her to say because long distance running is easy for her! She has been begging me to join her at her cross fit gym for years and I kept saying no. Burpees, running, squats, no thanks.

I spent the next hour going through all of the reasons that I shouldn't try. I was too big to run long distance, despite Sallie disputing that 1.5 miles is not considered long distance-it was to me. I had also come into Rifle too late in the game, those 3 slots would fill up before I could qualify. I didn't have running shoes, in fact all I had were my inmate scrubs and military wanna be boots. How could I train in that crappy gear? I suspect we've all been here before-or on the verge of a big decision where one choice will be exponentially more difficult to carry out. But the more I thought about it and the more I looked at the picture of my beautiful family hanging on my wall, I knew I had to try and make the run. After all, it wasn't just any run. I'd be running for a shorter sentence, I'd be running to be with Sallie and the kids sooner, I'd be running to get back to work-
I'd be running for my life.

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,