Peter Sarsgaard has branded the US prison system "wrong and broken"

During an appearance on iHeart Radio's Ruthie's Table 4 podcast, he explained: "We have a private prison system in a lot of our country. So there's an incentive to have more prisoners because you get paid per prisoner.

"And so there's overcrowding, and it's obviously terrible. We also have a problem with sentencing of juvenile offenders. And yes, some of these guys did things that were really wrong, and they needed to go away, and they needed to be rehabilitated.

"But you do something when you're 16 that you're still in jail for when you're 50. And there's something really wrong and broken about it, especially since if you had the money, get a lawyer, and apply for resentencing. It's a couple of hundred thousand dollars you're going to end up spending.

"So for people that have the means, there's a way to get out."

He added of his work with CAL: "What we were doing is trying to raise money for the people that don't have the means, really investigating different cases and finding lots of people who had demonstrated great behaviour, were really reformed, had maybe it's sometimes just been an accessory in the crime ..

"They're with their friend who has the gun, they shoot the person, they steal the thing. Obviously, again, I don't want to live in a society where that happens, but the punishments have just been horrible."

Sarsgaard concluded by insisting he feels good about supporting an organisation which is so close to home, adding: "There are lots of things to raise a fist about in the world. It can be hard to ... You want to actually have an effect, and that's what I feel a lot of the time.

"I felt like when I met this group at the Centre for Appellate Legislation, they are literally in my backyard. I can see where they are. And I thought, I feel strongly about this. This is something I can actually show up for. So I mostly just tried to raise money for them."