What Prison Was Really Like For Ja Rule

Ja Rule is a hip-hop legend and savvy entrepreneur. Per The Smoking Gun, he's also an ex-con, having spent two years banged up behind bars. In 2011, Ja Rule was stripped of his customary do-rag and shades and processed into special custody after being sentenced for the illegal possession of a firearm and copping a federal bid for not paying income taxes. Wealthiest estimates that Ja Rule is worth a cool $4 million, so that's some serious potential taxurbation right there.

However, the rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, really knows how to make it rain and get his hustle on. In addition to Ja Rule attending Harvard and enjoying a storied music career, he had a reality show, "Follow the Rules." According to IMDb, the MTV show documented Ja Rule living with his kids, wife, mom, and mother-in-law. And proving he's not above doing pretty much anything to earn a buck or two, he even starred in a rather bizarre and extremely low-budget gyro ad.

The musician also wrote a memoir, "Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man," which promised to "[reveal] the man beneath the legend." Hailing himself as "one of the most multi-dimensional rap artists of his time," Ja Rule told his life story in hopes of inspiring young Black men. He wrote about his traumatic childhood, being raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and his time behind bars. So what was prison really like for Ja Rule? Read on to find out.

According to the New York Daily News, Ja Rule first served time in the Oneida Correctional Facility. His days there are a distant memory, as is the facility. In 2011 Governor Andrew Cuomo shut it down with six other prisons. They dispatched inmates to different chronically overcrowded institutions and put up the for sale sign. 

However, Ja Rule's celebrity prison story was more about networking and making some surprising new friends than a post-apocalyptic horror. By all accounts, the rapper's juice card allowed him a smooth ride for a prison pumpkin. After his stint behind bars at Oneida, Ja Rule caught a chain to the Hudson Correctional Facility. The Daily News reports he whiled away the hours there playing basketball and cards with the disgraced political adviser-turned-pension-scam artist Hank Morris.

Ja Rule told Complex that he was later transferred to FCI Ray Brook to serve time for his federal tax evasion conviction. CellBlock 7 reports Ray Brook is "a low-security facility" that used to house political prisoners during WWII but is now capable of holding up to 766 inmates split across two camps. While at Ray Brook, Ja Rule continued making the most of his new real-life LinkedIn existence.

Ja Rule made the most of his stay at the Oneida Correctional Facility. He buddied up with former politician Alan Hevesi and disgraced CEO Dennis Kozlowski or "Hevey D," and Koz" as the rapper called them. The three new booties formed a tight clique, shooting the breeze, watching TV, and swapping stock tips. "Outside, you don't meet guys like this every day," he told the New York Daily News in 2012. "This place is amazing."

The BBC reports that Ja Rule was placed on house arrest following his release from Ray Brook. However, he didn't let it hamper him, giving at-home interviews about his time inside. Ja Rule boasted that his fellow inmates "respected" him for keeping it real. "I'm Ja Rule, and I'm the most famous dude in prison; everybody knows who I am. But I'm one of y'all right now. I'm no better than none of you." he told Vlad TV. "I did my bid amongst the people," he continued.

Once free from house arrest, Ja Rule sat down with Queen Latifa to talk about how prison changed his views and priorities in life. The musician said he met a young man inside whose father had previously been locked up. Ja Rule said it made him aware of "the cycle" surrounding the incarceration of Black men. "It's time for us to break that cycle and be fathers to our children," he said, sharing, "it was a learning experience."