Jelly Roll Helps Open New Nashville Youth Center Where He Was Previously Incarcerated and Hopes to See 'Change'

Jelly Roll is giving back to his community.

On Tuesday, Aug. 8, the CMT Music Award winner, 39, helped break ground on Nashville’s new Youth Campus for Empowerment. Jelly Roll — real name Jason DeFord — is from nearby Antioch, Tenn., and was incarcerated in the city's old facility, Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center, several times during his youth.

As a result, he's passionate about Nashville's goal to create a place that focuses on rehabilitating and nurturing young people who find themselves in the detention center. In fact, he's partnering with the city to help fund the new facility.

"I celebrated my 14th, 15th, and 16th birthdays there,” Jelly Roll said at the ceremony per local Fox affiliate WZTV. “The only reason I wasn’t there at 17 was because I was charged as an adult.”

The country artist, who had a show in Las Vegas the same night as the groundbreaking, called the city's youth-centric project "well-spent money."

He added that Nashville's old center "hadn’t changed nothing but the paint in 30 years," which he knew "because I was there."

"Get rid of stuff that makes you feel like a caged animal," he continued. "Make these kids feel loved and give them a chance in life. A lot of these kids are victims of their circumstances. This is a really great chance to change things."

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According to Nashville's Juvenile Court Clerk website, the new facility "will be a family-oriented, trauma-informed campus." The 14-acre site will include facilities to help families, a 24-hour center for youths in crisis, court rooms and meeting spaces. Construction on the Youth Campus for Empowerment is set to be completed in 2027.

This ceremony isn't the first time Jelly Roll has stepped up to help young people incarcerated at the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center. In 2022, he revealed he was donating a recording studio to the center, a dream that came to fruition in May 2024.

In 2022, he spoke with PEOPLE about the studio, and how he discovered his passion for music during his time in the facility.

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"I was in and out of there for about three, three and a half years. I spent a lot of time there and eventually got charged as an adult for a crime I committed as a juvenile," he recalled at the time. "And I just realized that was the most impactful thing that ever happened in my life, and the darkest moments of my life still were being that 15-year-old scared kid spending Thanksgiving away from his family."

He continued, "It's important, man. I think it's important that we give back, especially [to] our kids ... They were born into just whatever situation it was, and sometimes they can't see past that situation or that neighborhood or that environment. I just hope to bring hope to that and kind of be a beacon and a light for those kids."