The first religious education program in Ukraine for youth convicted of crimes began at the juvenile detention center in Kuriazhiv on 16 October 2002.
The youth have religious instruction four times a week at a monastery located near the center. Classes in Christian ethics are conducted by seminarians who are not much older than their students. The teenage convicts have a positive attitude to religious instruction. “When I was put in jail, I found out that I can learn about God. I decided this might be useful in the future,” said one of the boys. “It is great honor for me to attend the Sunday school,” said another teenager. The instructors of the center believe that religion can help convicted children to come to know themselves and teach them to value life.