Jelly Roll performs for Oregon inmates

SALEM Ore. (KPTV) – Grammy-nominated country singer Jelly Roll brought his music to maximum security inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem this week.

The star’s setlist included Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” the lyrics of which he changed to “Oregon State Prison.”

“For the first time in 20 years, they brought music to the prison,” Jelly Roll told the inmates standing around him.

“I’m just trying to spread love,” the singer wrote in the caption of an Instagram video.

He told them, “I wrote my first song behind the walls. It never feels better than coming back behind the wall and singing a song for you.”

“If you love drawing, you love writing, you love poetry, you love listening to music, you love playing guitar, I pray that you put that passion into it and live off it as much as you can,” he added.

“It felt so good to bring a little light into such a dark place. I firmly believe that if we commit crimes we should serve our time and be held accountable for our actions, but I also believe that every human being deserves love no matter how bad the decision they made,” Jelly Roll wrote.

Jelly Roll stayed behind after his performance to talk to the inmates and sign autographs.

The Grammy-nominated singer was arrested dozens of times as a teenager and spent time behind bars for aggravated robbery, so he knows what prisoners go through.

“I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for what I’ve been through,” Jelly Roll told Fox News Digital last year. “I think it’s given me strength. I think it’s given me my voice. It’s taught me a lot about overcoming. It’s taught me a lot about change and the ability to change.

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