Country music star Jelly Roll is one more step towards the accusation of forgiveness for the crimes he committed, including a flight, in his youth, said a sheriff of Tennessee.
The sheriff of Davidson County, Daron Hall, said on Tuesday on X that the Council of State for parole had voted to approve a forgiveness for the singer, legally known as Jason B. Deford, 40. The Associated Press reported that the vote was unanimous, with a recseezing member.
Under the law of Tennessee, the case is now before Governor Bill Lee, who can give forgiveness, grant a switching to the criminal record of Jelly Roll or refuse the request.
The spokesperson for the Board of Directors and the Governor did not immediately respond to a comment request on Tuesday evening.
Hall said he asked Lee to forgive Jelly Roll about a year ago, and he said on Tuesday’s vote was part of this business.
Jelly Roll, known for her face tattoos and his prodigious presence, sharpened her rap skills in prison before mixing them with country music for a career that earned him four nominations at the Grammy Award in February.
He used his experience as a basis for part of his music and to inspire others imprisoned, attracted by the life of the crime or otherwise marginalized with little hope.
He speaks in prisons, rehabilitation programs and schools. In April, he accepted a prize for his plea for the World Literacy Foundation at his annual summit at the University of Oxford, where a host compared him to a modern Johnny Cash.
Jelly Roll said he was not authorized to vote because of his criminal convictions.
He said that he had spent most of the years between 14 and 25 years behind bars, his most consecutive conviction being for a flight. He admitted to a podcast last month that he had sold drugs in his district of Nashville, where “the only people who had money had criticized”.
He said that a low point in life was when a prison guard came to his cell to point out that his daughter was born – 17 years ago.
“I had a pair of clothes in which I was incarcerated,” he said on the podcast “Smartless”. “I had no money. In fact, I was in debt. It was the most honest moment of responsibility and self-reflection of my life.”
Jelly Roll struck in prison, he said, and finally more than 200 prisoners surrounded him for Friday evening performances. “We had beaten the walls,” he said on the podcast, referring to makeshift rap beats.
“It was as if we would be free for the night,” he said.
He was released from prison at the end of 2016, according to the state registers. He did not immediately hit music, but he scribbled his dreams, “living in a van and making $ 50 shows,” he said on the podcast.
His music told a part of his story. “Save me” in 2020 includes the lines “someone saves me, me from me / I spent so long living in hell / they say that my lifestyle is bad for my health / This is the only thing that seems to help.”
Removing in favor of new legislation to combat fentanyl overdoses, Jelly Roll told Congress last year that the value of a passenger passengers of synthetic opioid user died every day, often relatively unnoticed, in the United States.
Deaths do not capture the attention of an airplane accident because deceased is less appreciated, he said. “America is known to intimidate and shame drug addicts,” he told federal legislators in January 2024.
Jelly Roll said he was doing his share for those prevented from drugs and the judicial system.
“I am a guy who proves that he is never too late to change,” he said on the podcast.
The Associated Press contributed.
