Alec Baldwin Says Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin Shouldn’t Go to Prison Over College Admissions Scandal

Felicity Huffman recently reported to federal prison to serve a two-week sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal, while her fellow actor Lori Loughlin is awaiting trial. While Loughlin will also likely get prison time, Alec Baldwin doesn’t think the women deserve to be behind bars.

“I don’t think anyone involved in the college fraud cases should go to prison,” he tweeted on Thursday. “That includes past cases as well. Community service, fines, yes. But prison time, no. My heart goes out to Felicity, Bill Macy and their family.”

After one fan replied that Baldwin’s opinion seems “tone deaf,” the actor wrote, “Community service is better. The demonization of wealth in this country is mind blowing. A country built on both freedoms and commerce. Now, all success is scrutinized. Merely to succeed, especially financially, invites scrutiny, judgment, abuse.”

Baldwin’s first tweet referenced Huffman, her husband, William H. Macy, and their two daughters, one of whom was unknowingly involved in the scheme when Huffman “made a purported charitable contribution of $15,000 to KWF to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of her oldest daughter.”

The money went to Rick Singer, who organized the scheme and organized for a proctor to correct answers on Huffman’s oldest daughter’s SAT test. She originally announced her decision to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in May and was sentenced to 14 days in prison in September along with a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and one year of supervised release.

Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were indicted for allegedly paying $500,000 to have their two daughters designated as crew recruits to the University of Southern California despite the fact that neither girl rowed crew. The couple pleaded not guilty and are now facing charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

A source told PEOPLE that Loughlin tried to reach out to Huffman to discuss the latter’s prison sentence, though Loughlin’s rep said that the two women did not connect before Huffman reported to prison.

“She wants to debrief Felicity after jail to find out what it was like and what her advice would be,” the source said of Loughlin. “She feels like Felicity’s time in jail will be an indicator on her own time, and she’s extremely curious to know how it goes.”

“Their cases are very different,” the insider added. “But Lori wants to know how Felicity is holding up. Ultimately, however, Lori believes that she will be found not guilty by the courts, and won’t have to spend any time in jail. That’s what she’s counting on.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Jeff Kravitz