Wynonna Judd Meets with White House on Criminal Justice Reform After Daughter Was Sent Back to Prison
Rachel DeSantis 11 hrs ago
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Wynonna Judd at the White House for a National Day of Prayer event
Wynonna Judd has reportedly been meeting with White House officials about working on criminal justice reform — an issue that hits close to home with her daughter, Grace Pauline Kelley, behind bars.
Politico reports that Judd, 54, met last Wednesday with Brooke Rollins, in the White House Office of American Innovation who focuses on criminal justice reform. Judd also spoke informally to Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner, his senior adviser and son-in-law.
According to Politico, Judd and Rollins “discuss[ed] criminal justice reform and ways the administration can continue to enhance reentry programs for inmates and curb the return-to-prison rate.”
A White House spokesman did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. A source familiar with the meeting described it as general and introductory — not unlike a meet-and-greet — and that Judd was briefly introduced to Kushner.
The criminal justice system is personal for Judd: Daughter Kelley was sentenced in June to eight years in prison for violating her probation stemming from a drug-related conviction in 2017.
Kelley, 22, will be released in March 2025 but is scheduled for a parole hearing in October, according to state records.
Her case prompted Judd to work with the nonprofit Hope for Prisoners, which helps inmates re-enter the world after they’re released with the hopes of lowering the recidivism rate.
The country star teased her possible partnership with the White House on Thursday, when she and husband Cactus Moser attended a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Judd declined to detail her meetings with the White House, the Review-Journal reports, but said that when she was ready to talk about her work with the administration it would be “loud and proud.” She has known Trump for decades, according to the paper.
“This is the beginning of a new chapter for me,” Judd said, but noted “it’s just about love and music for me today.”
She was spotted by President Trump at Thursday’s White House event, and he called her out as he stood before the crowd.
Poster Comment:
What can we say when a big name like Wynonna Judd is having trouble keeping her daughter off drugs.
I work with a guy whose son was caught with marijuana. Right now he is cooling his heels for 120 days up in St. Joe. Maybe that will teach him not to lie to the Judge.