United Kingdom, March 3 -- Peter Sarsgaard has branded the US prison system "wrong and broken".

The Bride! star, 54, believes overcrowding behind bars is "terrible" and there is a "problem" with young offenders being handy lengthy sentences with no chance of securing an early release so he's working with New York-based non-profit public defence law firm the Center for Appellate Litigation (CAL) to help inmates with their appeals and post-conviction proceedings.

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. W...