ODYSSEY INVESTIGATION NO. 001.

Inside the Record What Colorado’s DOC Investigation Reveals — And What It Still Doesn’t

Cover design and original photography by Socrates Ulysses Packer.

By Socrates Ulysses Packer

Bring It to the Table Colorado

Published: July 2026

This investigation is dedicated to the belief that public records tell us what happened. People tell us why it mattered.

Introduction

Some investigations begin with a whistleblower.

Others begin with a leaked document.

This investigation began with public records.

But this story isn’t really about records.

It’s about people.

Behind every Colorado Open Records Act request, every administrative filing, every protected exhibit, and every redacted page are people. People whose names appear in official records. People whose lives may have been shaped by the judgment, decisions, and culture of those entrusted with leading Colorado’s prison system.

The public has already learned that senior leaders within the Colorado Department of Corrections exchanged text messages that resulted in internal investigations, administrative proceedings, and disciplinary action. Public reporting and official records have established that those communications existed and that they raised serious concerns about professionalism, judgment, and leadership. For many, that may be where the story ends.

For Bring It to the Table Colorado, it is where the investigation begins.

The documents answer one question.

What happened?

They do not answer the question that matters most. Who was affected?

Who were the incarcerated people discussed in those communications?

What happened to them before those messages?

What happened after?

What was life like inside the facilities where these leaders exercised authority?

Were the attitudes reflected in private conversations simply inappropriate remarks exchanged among coworkers, or were they part of a broader culture that influenced how people were treated inside Colorado prisons?

Those answers cannot be found in a single administrative decision.

They cannot be found in a Protective Order.

They cannot be found in a redacted exhibit.

Those answers live with the people who experienced Colorado’s prison system firsthand.

That is why this investigation continues.

The purpose of this investigation is not to sensationalize a text message scandal.

It is not to assume misconduct where evidence has not established it.

It is to follow the evidence wherever it leads and to ask the questions that remain unanswered.

Because leadership is more than policies written on paper.

Leadership is more than disciplinary decisions.

Leadership sets culture.

And culture has consequences.

Every day, correctional leaders make decisions that affect where people sleep, how they receive medical care, how discipline is imposed, how grievances are handled, and ultimately how incarcerated men and women experience life inside a correctional facility.

When questions arise about the culture among those leaders, the public has a legitimate interest in understanding whether that culture remained behind closed doors — or whether it reached the housing units, medical clinics, segregation cells, visitation rooms, and every other place where people lived under that leadership.

That is the purpose of this investigation.

The records are not the destination.

They are the roadmap.

Every document leads to another question.

Every question leads to another person.

And every person has a story that deserves to be heard.

Over the coming weeks and months, Bring It to the Table Colorado will continue reviewing public records, interviewing current and former employees, speaking with formerly incarcerated individuals and their families, attending public proceedings, and seeking additional records to better understand not only what happened among Colorado Department of Corrections leadership, but what that leadership meant for the people whose lives were directly affected by it.

Because accountability is not measured solely by disciplinary actions.

It is measured by whether the public is willing to ask difficult questions, whether institutions are willing to answer them, and whether the people most affected are finally given the opportunity to tell their own stories.

This investigation is just the beginning.

Socrates Ulysses Packer

Bring It to the Table Colorado

ODYSSEY: A Story Told in Real Time

www.odysseyrealtime.com

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Primary Sources

• Colorado State Personnel Board, Administrative Law Judge Initial Decision, Case No. 2026B029.
• Colorado State Personnel Board, Protective Order, Case No. 2026B029.
• Colorado State Personnel Board case records and index.
• Colorado Open Records Act correspondence obtained by Bring It to the Table Colorado.

Background Reporting

• Public reporting regarding the Colorado Department of Corrections leadership text-message investigation.

About This Investigation

ODYSSEY Investigations are ongoing public-interest reporting projects by Bring It to the Table Colorado. Articles may be updated as additional records become available, interviews are conducted, or new information is verified. The goal is to follow the evidence, document the process, and provide readers with transparent, evidence-based reporting.