Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita will be hosting the 8th Annual Returning Hearts Celebration on Friday, which will reunite approximately 23 male inmates with their children and grandchildren at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

“This event is an excellent way for incarcerated fathers to reconnect and bond with their children and to work on their relationships, which places them on a path towards family reconciliation,” according to the press release by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Nearly 34 children from 5 to 17 years old will be able to spend quality time with their fathers or grandfathers at a carnival near the jail’s east facility chapel. The carnival will be removed from other inmates.

Volunteers from the Awana Lifeline Ministries will be chaperoning the children, but no other family members will be able to attend in order for the celebration to maintain its father-son dynamic, according to the press release.

Grace Baptist Church will also be providing volunteers, food and activities for the Education Based Incarceration Unit (EBI) inmates enrolled in the program.

EBI Unit is responsible for managing 67 inmate educational and vocational programs within seven LA County jails.

There are approximately 18,000 inmates in the LA County jail system. Within that population more than 6,000 inmates are currently participating in educational programs.