CASPER, Wyo. — Nineteen residents of the Casper Reentry Center celebrated their graduation from the state Department of Corrections Therapeutic Communities program last week. Some have been in the system for over a decade, and others for violent, even deadly, crimes.

“Don’t let your past define you,” Jeremy Jones, executive director of the 12-24 Club in Casper, told the Thursday, Oct. 24 graduation meeting. “The personal growth you have cultivated in the TC program can follow you wherever you go. … Keep moving forward; pride, integrity and respect for your future self.”

“The thing about my own story is that it’s not special,” Jones said. “That’s exactly what happens when people stay sober.”

CRC Director Jerry Ray Hughes Jr. said those who graduated TC last week will either be on parole or will transition to the Adult Community Corrections program, which occupies the other half of the CRC facility just west of the airport. GEO Reentry Services is the private company that manages the facility under a government contract.

The statewide TC program combines cognitive behavioral interventions with community therapeutic settings and is an accredited program through the American Correctional Association. The program can take six months or a year, depending on the person.

“Look at your character before it becomes your destiny,” graduate Joshua Rose told the congregation last week. “What we think we become.”

Before the ceremony, Oil City News spoke with a group of seven TC residents who agreed that for them, the “criminal mindset” and addiction mentality were inextricably linked.

“When you first come here, you get a list of emotions,” resident Russel Sitton said. “We get good at identifying how these thoughts and feelings become our behaviors and actions. I’m 43 years old and this is the fundamental piece that has been missing in my adult life. I wish I had some of this knowledge back in the day.”

Resident John Kimbley agreed. “Some of what is taught here should be taught in middle school. Everyone on the planet goes through stuff like this, but some people are better at hiding it.”

“Or some people don’t start committing crimes,” said Herman Addison, one of the graduate members of the TC.

“We didn’t realize how negative an effect we were having in our communities,” Sitton said. “It was just so normal for a lifestyle we lived.”

“When you live in an addiction, you don’t care about anyone; you only care about yourself,” resident Kevin Pino said. He said he is serving his third prison term. He said the TC community has helped him unwind the pre-set attitude of aggression that comes with the gang lifestyle, as well as the reliance on slang and other verbal crutches. He said it was all really a cover for awkwardness and insecurity.

During this period, he says, he learned to read, earned a welding certificate and became head of the peer-managed behavior department.

Those who advance in the program are given leadership positions, as “elders,” in departments such as laundry, kitchen, library, creative energy, medicine, behavior, and “hairdressing.” Residents spoke for a long time in turn practically uninterrupted by each other – elders can give tickets for “blurting out.”

“They hold each other accountable,” says Associate Director of Treatment Vivian Whetham.

The structure, responsibility, therapeutic sessions and new gym equipment are all part of keeping residents productive, Hughes said, adding that idleness and boredom are surefire pathways back to addictive mindsets.

Hughes has been the director for about a year, and residents Oil City News spoke with said they appreciate his approach.

“I’ve been in this facility three or four times and this is probably the best director I’ve seen,” resident Cody Sylvester said. “He’s military, he has that standard that we’re all family, part of the squad.”

The group agreed that they especially appreciated the new gym.

“He’s not averse to spending GEO’s money for our benefit,” Sylvester said.

“When you treat them right, they start to lose that prison mentality,” Hughes said. “I was a drill sergeant, so I know how to treat people when they’re still adults but don’t know what to do in life and how to motivate them to do things.”

With six combat deployments during a 25-year Army career, Hughes says he can relate to the challenges of reintegration after being away from family for an extended period of time. “You have to start over every time you come back. You come back and everybody’s different,” he said. “What helps is (knowing) you can’t do everything at once. It’s steps.”

Hughes said some of the TC residents are transitioning to the ACC side, where residents receive unemployment and family cards for special occasions. They are always tested for alcohol upon return, and there are at least two drug tests a month. Hughes said there used to be 30–40 hot UA a month; now it’s about two.

He said some of the ACC residents brag to him that they’ve kept their first job in a decade, even if it’s only for $10 an hour. Residents also receive training in financial literacy. Casper College staff come out to the facility past the airport to do high school practice, and Celebrate Recovery comes out for spiritual services.

“When you have a spiritual belief system, you have purpose and legacy, and this will help you stay sober,” Whetham said. “I always tell the guys, ‘I don’t care who you worship, just find something to believe in that will keep you alive.'”

Pino said he knows the challenges of going back into the unstructured world. That can include setting boundaries with friends and even family members in an active addiction: “‘I have to love you from a distance,’ and that hurt my heart,” Pino said. “I understand how my mother felt when I was running in the streets.”

Pino said having a sponsor ready to go would be crucial for him and his peers.

“If you don’t get a support team and call them right before you hit the gate … then, you know, I’m praying for you. … If you don’t have those accountability buddies and people backing you up, it’s going to be hard, man.”

Resident Ken Cooper agreed, “I think all the things we get here, we’d also get if we just got a sponsor when we came out. Someone who can hold you accountable and remind you on the tough days, ‘Hey, don’t give up ‘, ‘Hey, this too shall pass.’ … That’s my problem: I give up before I fail.”

Sitton said everything he’s learned has shown him a way to contentment that his old lifestyle never could.

“When you create a life you can be proud of, and everything is in balance, the rewards innately come from that,” Sitton said. “Then you don’t need all that instant gratification. And you don’t have to watch your back all the time. The chaos is gone.”