Jelly Roll Named Honorary Deputy in Little Rock, Ark., for His 'Meaningful Impact' After Meeting with Inmates

The singer stopped by the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office to take an official oath and speak with a group of incarcerated people in a reentry program

Jelly Roll Is Named an Honorary Deputy
Jelly Roll was named an honorary deputy in Little Rock, Arkansas. Photo:

Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Office

Jelly Roll can now add "honorary deputy" to his resume!

Don't fret, the country star, 39, isn’t ditching the stage or changing career paths — but he did accept the title while in Little Rock, Ark., for a a sold-out concert at Simmons Bank Arena on Tuesday, Oct 22.

During his time in Arkansas, the “Winning Streak” singer stopped by the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office with wife Bunnie Xo, gave an inspiring chat and took an oath to become an honorary deputy.

The sheriff’s office shared footage of his visit on Instagram. Set to “Somebody Save Me,” Jelly’s song with Eminem, the post shows several clips of the singer interacting with staff, singing and speaking with participants in the department’s CSI Academy reentry program — who first caught his attention with a TikTok.

The program “focuses on recovery, re-entry, and peer recovery,” per the sheriff’s office website. It teaches life skills to incarcerated people “so they have the tools necessary to succeed in society when they are released into our community.”

Jelly, who has previously been open about his own experiences with the law — he’s been to jail around 40 times for various drug charges — gave a talk about “making positive choices,” the department said.

“Sheriff Higgins and his administration want to extend a heartfelt thank you to @jellyroll615 and Bunnie for visiting our CSI Reentry program before tonight’s concert at Simmons Bank Arena,” the office wrote in the video caption.

“Our participants had an amazing experience creating a TikTok video of ‘Save Me,’ which caught his attention!” the caption continued. “His discussion about making positive choices truly inspired everyone. We’re also thrilled to announce that he took the Oath of Office to be a honorary deputy! Thank you for making a meaningful impact on our community!”

In a photo Jelly reposted on his own Instagram, the star appeared excited about the title, posing with Pulaski County Sheriff Eric S. Higgins and smiling wide while holding up his new badge.

Earlier this month, the country star — who has previously revealed many of his songs were penned in jail cellsopened up about his early run-ins with the law while appearing on podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty.

 Jelly Roll performs during WWE SummerSlam 2024 at Cleveland Browns Stadium
Jelly Roll.

WWE/Getty

"I'd gotten a fight with a kid and back then they had the chain wallets. When we were wrestling, I grabbed a chain wallet to try to hit him with it, and that was a strong-arm robbery case," he said. "So I ended up in the system for like 20-something months when I was 13 for that strong-arm robbery."

Jelly added he's "so embarrassed to talk about" that period of his life.

"I was still a bad person in my early 30s, but I mean, I was a really horrible kid all the way into my mid-20s," he said. "People are always like, 'You're the nicest dude I've ever met.' I'm like, 'I'm so glad y'all haven't met nobody that knew me 20 years ago.' "

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