Jelly Roll stopped in Portland on Sunday for his “Beautifully Broken” tour, and then made good on a promise to his brother by performing at Oregon State Penitentiary on Tuesday, the country rapper wrote on Instagram.
“It felt so good bringing a little light to such a dark place,” the artist wrote on social media. “I am a firm believer that if we commit crimes we should do our time and be held accountable for our actions, but I also believe that every human deserves love no matter how bad of a decision they have made.”
In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Jelly Roll recounted his arrest at 16 for aggravated robbery. He spent more than a year in custody after being charged as an adult. He had faced a 20-year sentence.
“They were talking about giving me more time than I’d been alive,” he told the outlet. “I was charged as an adult years before I could buy a beer, lease an apartment, get a pack of cigarettes.”
In his Instagram post, Jelly Roll alluded to that period. “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,” he wrote. “If one inmate was inspired to do better by my presence yesterday it was worth my weight in gold to stop by and sing.”
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