Actor Michael Douglas used his Emmy Award win to blast federal prison officials for not letting him visit his oldest son in the slammer.
After accepting a trophy for his role as Liberace in HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra,” Douglas on Sunday gave a live, televised “shout-out for…my oldest son, Cameron,” who’s serving nearly 10 years behind bars on drug charges.
“I’m hoping I’ll be able, and they’ll allow me to see him soon,” Douglas said from the stage of the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
In interviews later, the famed actor said Cameron, 34, has “been a drug addict for a large part of his life” and was punished for having “a slip” in prison.
“In my son’s case, he’s spent almost two years in solitary confinement, and right now I’m told I cannot see him for two years,” Douglas said.
“It’s over a year now, and I’m questioning the system.”
“Obviously, at first I was disappointed in my son, but I’ve reached a point now, I’m very, very disappointed with the system,” he added.
Douglas said he was hopeful that US Attorney General Eric Holder would reform prison treatment of “non-violent drug addicts.
“The last comment on that is the United States represents 5 percent of the world’s population and we have 25 percent of the world’s prisoners,” he said.
Cameron was sentenced to five years after getting caught selling meth out of the swanky Gansevoort hotel in the Meathpacking District, and later got slapped with another 4-1/2 years for possessing drugs in jail.
A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons didn’t immediately return a request for comment on Monday.