Beginning in July 2012, the prison population fell from 154,000 to 79,750 before 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. As a matter of fact, the Donbas has 20% of all prisons functioning in Ukraine. As a heritage of the Soviet period, Donetsk and Lugansk regions have 20 and 16 prison facilities respectively, twice more than any other region in Ukraine. Convicts were released without any government programs for rehabilitation, destabilizing these regions. There is a tremendous need for rehab programs such as 12 Steps to re-orientate them back into society.

On one trip to Ukraine the Lord placed the cry of the prisoner upon Stan’s heart. He literally felt the pain and tears of those imprisoned, abandoned and forgotten. This was the beginning of reaching out to the incarcerated with the “Good News”. Over a million life-changing testimonial books have been published and distributed to the prisons of Ukraine and Russia. As well Masters has sponsored mission teams to the women’s prisons and instituted rehab programs such as 12 Steps and reaching out to the children of the imprisoned moms.