Taraji P. Henson cites Emmett Till's murder in a post pleading for Jussie Smollett to be freed from prison: 'He has already lost everything'

• Taraji P. Henson took to Instagram to call for Jussie Smollett to be freed from prison.
• Smollett was sentenced last Thursday to 30 months of probation, including 150 days of jail time.

Jussie Smollett's former "Empire" costar Taraji P. Henson took to Instagram on Sunday, calling for Smollett to be freed from jail because "the punishment does not fit the crime."

Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of probation, including 150 days of jail time, last Thursday. It comes after the actor was found guilty last December on five counts of felony disorderly conduct when Smollett said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in the early morning hours of January 29, 2019, Insider previously reported.

In her Instagram post on Sunday, Henson wrote, "I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime."

The Oscar-nominated actress then brought up the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in the summer of 1955.

"Emmett Till was brutally beat and ultimately murdered because of a lie and none of the people involved with his demise spent one day in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims were false," Henson wrote.

Till, a Black boy who was originally from Chicago and visiting family in Mississippi at the time of his death, was killed by a racist mob in Mississippi. The incident occurred after Bryant, a white woman, accused Till of flirting and whistling at her while he was buying candy from the store she was employed.

Insider previously reported that when Bryant's husband Roy, who owned the store, later found out about the alleged flirting four days after the teenager bought candy, he went to Till's uncle's house with his half-brother J.W. Milam and forced Till into a car. The men viciously attacked Till, according to the report, shooting him in the head and tossing him into the Tallahatchie River, leaving the body disfigured.

A few weeks later, an all-white jury found Roy and Milam not guilty even though eyewitnesses identified the defendants in testimony and the men confessed to kidnapping Till.

In the 2017 book "The Blood of Emmett Till," author Tim Tyson reported that Carolyn had recanted her initial account, leading the United States Department of Justice to reopen the case that same year. However, Carolyn denied recanting her statement when federal investigators followed up with her. Still, Tyson stood by his "rock solid" reporting in a statement to CNN.

Henson continued on Instagram: "No one was hurt or killed during Jussie's ordeal. He has already lost everything, EVERYTHING! To me as an artist not able to create that in itself is punishment enough."

The actress, who played Smollett's mother on Fox's musical soap opera "Empire" from 2015 to 2019, wrote that the former actor and singer "can't get a job" because "no one in Hollywood will hire him." Henson added that being denied a chance to ever work in Hollywood again "is prison" in itself.

"My prayer is that he is freed and put on house arrest and probation because in this case that would seem fair. Please #freejussie," Hensons' post concluded.

Representatives for Henson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Smollett and his family have maintained his innocence. At his sentencing, Smollett declared to the court, "I am not suicidal! I am innocent. And I am not suicidal. If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans who have been in this country for over 400 years, and the fears of the LGBT community."

Representatives for Smollett did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.