Prisons in Oregon in numbers
The Oregon Department of Corrections houses 12,046 inmates.
Rapper Jelly Roll visited the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem on Monday and gave a live performance to the inmates in the prison yard.
The 39-year-old musician said in a Facebook post that his brother told him about a trip he took to the prison a few months ago and they discussed the possibility of the rapper accompanying him on the next trip.
Jelly Roll achieved this after a Sunday performance in Portland as part of his “Beautifully Broken” tour.
“It felt so good to bring 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, alluding to his own prison history. At 16, Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, was arrested for aggravated robbery and charged as an adult in Tennessee. He faced a possible 20-year prison sentence, but only served a little over a year.
“It felt good to show love to these guys. I remember being in a dark place and having no one come through and give us hope to change the course of our lives. If one inmate was inspired to better themselves by my presence yesterday, then me coming by and singing was worth gold,” he wrote.
The artist said in his post that the concert was the first time in 20 years that live music had been played in the prison yard. A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Corrections said smaller bands and local cover bands have played at the Oregon State Penitentiary, but it had been more than 20 years since a band as well-known as Jelly Roll had performed.
Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at [email protected] or on X under @isabeldfunk
