Gardner says he learned who was truly important during his second stint in prison after the DUI arrest. He says while he was away, none of the people who claimed to be his friends bothered to help his wife. The couple's trailer was without air conditioning during the sweltering summer months, and his wife's only possessions were her clothes and a mattress.

All that changed when Gardner was paroled again.

The couple and their son still live in a trailer, but Gardner has made improvements to make it a "happy, comfortable home. ... We have everything that we need, we are comfortable, and what we have is ours."

Gardner's experience with false friends was reinforced earlier this year after an on-the-job accident. Gardner was working for a construction company specializing in metal buildings. During a job in Ballard, he was carrying a piece of sheet metal when he was blown off a roof and fractured his hip and jaw.

Gardner says after he was injured people started stopping by his home. They didn't ask about his health. Instead they asked for the painkillers Gardner had been prescribed.

"I wanted to beat every one of them up," he says. "It made me so mad and I chased them out of there. If you come around my house drunk or using drugs, get the hell away from my house. You're not welcome."

Because of his injuries, Gardner couldn't return to his construction job. Draper says he would have understood if Gardner didn't work while he healed, but Gardner was determined to pay his bills and provide for his family. He immediately got a job cooking in a local restaurant, something he'd trained for in prison.

"It's being a man," Gardner says. "I've got to go out and bring money home to take care of my family. It's not hard to get a job, and it's a cop-out whether you're a parolee or not."

Gardner admits that being on parole isn't easy and says one of the hardest parts is adapting to the changes that come with the assignment of a new agent. He adds that the first few months of supervision when "you're going to be pushed to the limit and buttons will be pushed" can be particularly trying.

Still Draper says that Gardner, who is older than all but one of the AP&P agents in the Roosevelt office, has adapted "very well," and his cooperation has been rewarded.

"Since he's done well, we've backed off," Draper says. "He's still monitored, he's still supervised, but not nearly at the level he was when he first came out."

Gardner says he uses Draper and the other agents as a source of stability, as the "machinery that's getting me through" parole. He says he's visited the office at times to seek advice or work out problems he can't see a solution to.

"These people are not the enemy," Gardner says. "These people have helped me."