Melissa Etheridge says a video of female inmates singing one of her songs led to her performing with them at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.
The singer performed solo Wednesday for about 2,300 inmates at the prison northwest of Columbus. They sat on a recreation field as Etheridge sang a few songs and offered encouragement from a small stage.
She says she'd been moved by a video of inmates in an addiction-recovery group singing "A Little Bit of Me." She closed with the song and invited members of the group to come up and sing with her.
She later visited their dormitory, where she left her autographed handprints in paint on the wall and encouraged them to contact her when they're released.