Charlie Hunnam says he has repeatedly rejected advice to invest in private prisons because he does not want to “profit from other people’s suffering”.
The actor, who is starring as an inmate in the remake of Papillon, said on Thursday that the US in particular was creating a “rigged game” by making money keeping convicts locked up.
He told the Press Association: “For years my financial adviser has advocated that I invest in prisons because it’s a really wonderful investment because the value of the stocks rise and fall depending on the occupancy of the prison.
Charlie Hunnam shares a selfie with fans at the Toronto International Film Festival (Evan Agostini/AP)
“Now, that’s a rigged game because if you are allowed to decide who stays for how long then you can always have that business running at maximum efficiency.
“It’s like a very, very big problem that we are looking at because we should really be trying to help, improve, educate and send people back out into society to be productive members.”
Donald Trump’s tenure as US president has reportedly given a great boost to private prison contractors, with his rhetoric over immigration clampdown causing share prices to jump.
The UK currently has 14 private prisons, being managed by contractors Sodexo, Serco and G4S.
When asked if that was an investment he resisted, Hunnam said: “Every interaction energetically that you engage in in this life has a consequence and that’s not something I want to be involved in at all, to profit from other people’s suffering is not something that I would feel comfortable in.”
The 37-year-old, who plays the lead role of Henri Charriere, was speaking at the world premiere of Papillon at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Papillon actor was a hit with the fans on the red carpet (Evan Agostini/AP)
His character is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Henri Charriere of his experience behind bars, and his attempts to flee them.
The author, played by Steve McQueen in the 1973 film which also featured Dustin Hoffman, claimed he was incarcerated for a murder he did not commit.
Hunnam, from Newcastle, said he did not watch McQueen’s performance, saying it would be “foolish” to draw inspiration from the actor’s portrayal, and instead said he drew influence from friends who have served time.
Producer Joey McFarland also tried to distance the film from being seen as a remake, acknowledging they are a “four-letter word these days”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here