'Prisons and jails are not the answer to every bad thing everyone does,' stresses the 'All of Me' hitmaker when weighing in on the 'Transamerica' star's penalty for her role in the college admissions scandal.
- September 16, 2019
AceShowbiz - John Legend believes "no one will benefit" from Felicity Huffman's 14 day prison sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal.
Huffman learned her fate in a federal courtroom in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday, September 13, and will serve 14 days behind bars. She will also have to pay a $30,000 (£24,000) fine, complete 250 hours of community service and she will be on probation for one year following her release from jail.
And while the prison sentence is only half of what prosecutors recommended, the "All of Me" hitmaker finds it completely unnecessary - and he took to Twitter on Saturday to slam the sentencing.
"No one in our nation will benefit from the 14 days an actress will serve for cheating in college admissions. We don't need to lock people up for any of this stuff," Legend said.
He admitted he understands why people get mad about disparities in sentences handed to "rich people" compared with "poor people of colour," but claimed prison has become ineffective because it's become so overused.
"Americans have become desensitised to how much we lock people up. Prisons and jails are not the answer to every bad thing everyone does, but we've come to use them to address nearly every societal ill," the singer continued. "It's insane we locked a woman up for 5 years for sending her kid to the wrong school district. Literally everyone involved in that decision should be ashamed of themselves."
"It's unconscionable that we locked a woman up for voting when, unbeknownst to her, she was ineligible. Her sentence shouldn't be fewer years. It should be ZERO."
Huffman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in May and is the first of more than 30 parents indicted in the college bribery scam to be sentenced.
"Full House" star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli have also been accused of bribing college officials to get their daughters into the University of Southern California (USC), but they rejected a plea deal from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
