Rapper Jelly Roll made a visit to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem on Monday, giving inmates a live performance in the prison yard.
The 39-year-old musician said in a Facebook post his brother told him about a trip he was taking to the prison a few months ago and they discussed the possibility of the rapper joining him on the next trip.
Jelly Roll was able to do so after a Sunday performance in Portland for his “Beautifully Broken” tour.
“It felt so good bringing a little light to such a dark place,” he wrote in his post.
He added that he and his brother felt “blessed” to be able to perform there, and alluded to his own history with incarceration. At 16, Jelly Roll, whose given name is Jason Bradley DeFord, was arrested for aggravated robbery and charged as an adult in Tennessee. He faced a potential 20-year sentence, but ended up serving just more than a year.
“It felt good to go love on these guys. I remember being in a dark place and no one ever coming through and showing us any hope of changing the path of our lives, if one inmate was inspired to do better by my presence yesterday it was worth my weight in gold to stop by and sing,” he wrote.
The artist said in his post the concert was the first time live music had been played in the prison yard in 20 years. The Statesman Journal has reached out to confirm that timeline with the Department of Corrections.
Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @isabeldfunk
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Rapper Jelly Roll performs at Oregon State Penitentiary
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