Before he was rescued, Ryan Harden was a jailbird.

Harden had been in and out of the prison system for most of his adult life. Never able to keep a job, he turned to drugs when he felt pressure from work or family or life.

But when he was sent to the Re-entry Center, Harden finally decided to change.

"I really needed a program like this," he said. "I've got a pretty lengthy history of incarceration and I've got a lengthy history of substance abuse, and they go hand in hand for me. The education that I'm getting at RTP can't even compare to the treatment I was getting there (in prison)."

While Harden had to work hard to rescue himself, Casper Re-entry Center gave him the time and structure he needed to get away from drugs and back to a regular life.

"It breaks it down. It's more in depth and it gets down to the core," he said of his treatment at CRC. "It came at the right time in my life when I decided to stop being a burden to the people around me. I felt very hopeless and pretty desperate."

Harden joined fellow Re-entry Center resident Aaron O'Brien and CRC staff to thank the Natrona County Board of Commissioners for its continued support of a somewhat progressive program.

"We want to address not just why men use, but underlying issues, coping skills," said program manager Rosemary Bartle. "We make sure that when Ryan and Aaron go back out on the street, they go out as the men that they deserve to be and that we want to see them become."

The Casper Re-entry Center Residential Treatment Program is a long-term substance abuse program for drug offenders. A six-month criminal justice program, RTP requires offenders to stay in a lock-down facility and complete intense, all-day treatments in lieu of prison time.

"We serve a niche unique in Natrona County in that we work with probation and parole revocations," Bartle said. "Before the Residential Treatment Program came along … they would be sitting in jail for months waiting for space to come open for treatment."

"I'm learning things there that will help me reintegrate into society and be a family member and be somebody who can be relied on," Harden said.

Commissioner Barb Peryam said the commission supports the program because any program that helps former convicts reintegrate into society is a useful program.

"It allows people an opportunity for a second chance and an opportunity to reclaim a life and a life with family and to once again be productive members of society," Peryam said. "And honestly, it's cheaper than sending them to jail and paying those costs."

Peryam said she hopes a similar program will be established for women.

"We need to have more support at the state level for these programs, and it starts with the Legislature. We don't have a program for women at this time and that needs to be remedied," she said. "They're wives, they're mothers, and they can be productive members of society, too. And I think we need to make that a priority."

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com