DENVER -- The Colorado Department of Corrections has more harshly disciplined low-level employees than top managers, hurting morale and endangering public safety, a CALL7 Investigation found.

In 2006, Director of Prisons Gary Golder was involved in a domestic dispute with his former girlfriend where she said he was drunk, loaded his service weapon and was endanger of hurt himself, according to the 911 call the woman made during the incident.

"My boyfriend has a gun, and he's drunk, and I'm not sure what he's going to do with it," Golders former girlfriend told a police dispatcher in the 911 call. "He's come out and gone back in and told me I just (expletive) him out of a job."

But Golder was neither arrested nor lost his job after the incident despite admitting in documents that his actions brought “disrepute” on the DOC, records show. Actions outside work that bring “disrepute” on the department are prohibited as part of an administrative regulation on employee conduct.

Records show Golder was not disciplined and kept his nearly $130,000 a year job as one of Doc's top managers.

But, for a rank-and-file worker, mistakes can mean losing his or her job, documents and interviews show.

Jason Monett was a corrections officer for 10 years and was a user of chewing tobacco. He said he was twice caught with a can of chew on prison grounds and was fired after the second incident.

"I know a lot of officers, a lot of upper echelon, who have been in trouble for tobacco and stuff they have been fined, had letters in their files they have been in trouble more than once, and they never got fired let alone getting charges pressed on them,” Monett said. "It's just my opinion, (but) it's a very corrupt system."

In the prison system, tobacco is contraband. Monett said DOC officials tried to get him prosecuted for a felony, and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor to avoid the possible felony conviction.

Monett is not alone. Since 2006, 127 DOC workers lost their jobs, and only about a dozen were supervisors. All of those were low-level supervisors.

Nearly 20 low-level employees lost their jobs for violating the same administrative regulation that had the disrepute language that Golder conceded he violated, documents show.

Another example of the different levels of discipline is the cases of Maj. Curtis Robinette and corrections officer Derald Grasmick. Robinette had two drunk driving arrests while working at DOC -- including one with a weapon in his car. He retained his job. Grasmick was fired after once smelling of alcohol on the job and a subsequent DUI arrest outside of work.

A DOC spokeswoman said that Robinette was disciplined, but she declined to disclose his punishment. In an appeal of his firing, Grasmick is called a top employee and a “go-to guy” at DOC.

Grasmick had two impaired drivings charges prior to his employment with DOC, but those were 12 and 26 years ago, according to his appeal of discipline. Robinette’s drunk driving arrests happened in 1996 and 2003, according to law enforcement records. Both men pleaded down the arrests to driving while impaired, according to records and interviews.

Golder, Grasmick and Robinette declined to comment for the story.

State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, whose district covers most of the state’s prisons, said discipline problems at DOC endanger public safety.

"There's no question there's a two-tier process in the department of corrections. I think it's been part of the past culture,” she said. “When you do not have morale, high morale, in the department of corrections it's a safety problem for every citizen in the state of Colorado because you have safety issues within those walls of those prisons and you also have more assaults, more escape attempts, more escapes."

DOC director Ari Zavaras took over after all incidents found in the CALL7 investigation happened. He assured CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski that there would be fair punishment under his watch.

"Can you tell people, that if your top managers break the rules in the future, they'll be disciplined just as hard as lower level employees?" Kovaleski asked.

"I can not only say that but in many cases top management would probably be held to a higher standard,” Zavaras said.