MARION CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — A TikTok post made by a substance abuse counselor resulted in a visit from musician Jelly Roll to a central Kentucky detention center over the weekend.
Natalie Reed previously worked with kids before becoming a substance abuse counselor at the Marion County Detention Center.
“The only feelings I had about incarceration was just what I had known, which is that’s where my dad was my entire life,” Reed shared. “If anything, I chose this to be the voice that I didn’t have as a little girl, and to provide resources to these guys to help them want and know and do better.”
Last week, Reed reached out to Jelly Roll on TikTok, asking him to visit the Marion County Detention Center and speak to the inmates, becoming a resource for their substance abuse program.
“I can give them the resources, I can give them all the tools for their toolbox, but at the end of the day, I feel like they need your testimony,” Reed said in a clip from the video.
A connection to Jelly Roll reached out to Reed later that day and set up a meeting time at the detention center. Adding to her excitement, Reed had already seen examples of how Jelly Roll’s story and music have made a difference.
Close to when she first started, Reed shared, “there was an inmate walking in front of me towards the common room, and I heard him sing a lyric from “Son of a Sinner” by Jelly Roll, and in that moment, I think it struck me that these guys are no different than me.”
“These guys are no different than anyone. Everyone has their preconceived notions, their opinions, their assumptions of people that are incarcerated, people that are addicted. In that moment, I felt so much normalcy and I felt so comfortable to where after I heard him sing that lyric, I finished the rest of it inside of my head.”
Jelly Roll made his appearance in Marion County before his concert in Louisville this past Saturday. He took turns sharing his story and encouraging inmates at the detention center.
“That day was super exciting, and not just because Jelly Roll is a celebrity, but because of what he’s been through,” said Lorelei Raikes, substance abuse program director. “He’s been through what the guys in my program, what they’ve been through.”
One of the clients involved in the substance abuse program, Shane Simpson, shared, “I’ve heard a lot of his music, and to listen to him talk, it just let me know that he’s not that much different than the rest of us are. He’s become a better person, has got clean, and he’s doing his thing, and it lets everybody else know it’s possible.”
The impact of the Jelly Roll visit was immediately obvious to Reed and the staff.
“The inmates were very excited, and I think he was just so relatable, just to see their faces as they listened to him, just brought a lot of hope and joy into our program,” Raikes said.
“It gives you that motivation to make you want to do better, to make you work hard,” said Simpson. “As [Jelly Roll] said, you worked really hard to get in here, so why not work that hard, if that much harder, once you get out to be there for your loved ones.”
“This was 100% for them,” said Reed. “And I’m just still shocked that it happened.”
Jelly Roll will be back in the Commonwealth next month when the “Beautifully Broken Tour” visits Rupp Arena on Friday, Nov. 8. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster or from the Central Bank Center ticket office.
