Fans Await For New Paris Hilton After Jail Time

Hours after she admitted to paparazzi on the red carpet that she was “scared,” Paris Hilton traded in her designer duds for jail garb as she began serving her sentence for violating probation.

The 26-year-old celebutante turned herself in at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

Then she was escorted to the all-women’s Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood just after 11:30 p.m., where she was booked, fingerprinted and issued a jail uniform, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Whitmore said Hilton was easy to work with.

“Her demeanour was helpful. She was focused, she was co-operative,” he said.

Video captured by showbiz gossip website TMZ.com showed Hilton arriving at the Lynwood facility with her mother, Kathy.

Hilton’s publicist, Elliot Mintz, said he spoke with Kathy Hilton after she returned from the jail.

“She told me it was very emotional,” Mintz said. “She also said that she feels this will be a time when Paris will be able to think and reflect and to spend time alone to learn from the experience because in Paris’ life she’s never alone – there’s always a constant chatter around her.”

Paris Hilton is expected to serve just over three weeks for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

She had until Tuesday to surrender to authorities and start serving her term, which already has been cut from 45 days to 23 days because of state rules allowing shorter sentences for good behaviour.

Mere hours before her surrender, Hilton made a surprise appearance on the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards, where she was the butt of jokes.

“I am trying to be strong right now,” she told reporters on the red carpet. “I’m ready to face my sentence. Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that’s really helpful.”

Later in the show, MTV Movie Awards host Sarah Silverman cracked an off-colour joke at Hilton’s expense in her opening monologue.

The crowd cheered at the mention of her pending imprisonment but when the camera panned to Hilton, she was visibly displeased.

The “Simple Life” star will be housed in the “special needs” unit of the 13-year-old jail, separate from most of its 2,200 inmates.

The unit consists of 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates.

So far, Hilton is not sharing her cell with another inmate.

Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be permitted to venture outside the 12-foot-by-8-foot space every day for at least an hour to shower, watch TV in the day room, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the telephone.

No one, not even visitors, are permitted to bring cellphones or BlackBerrys onto the grounds of the facility.

The jail, a two-storey concrete building, has been an all-female facility since March 2006.

It is located in an industrial area some eight kilometres southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

“I did have a choice to go to a pay jail,” Hilton said Sunday, without giving details.

“But I declined because I feel like the media portrays me in a way that I’m not and that’s why I wanted to go to county, to show that I can do it and I’m going to be treated like everyone else. I’m going to do the time, I’m going to do it the right way.”

In some instances, high-profile celebrities are permitted to serve their term in a facility of their choosing.

In these cases, they pay a fee for their daily room and board in a smaller jail, which can provide them with greater privacy and comfort.

Zsa Zsa Gabor, for example, paid US$85 a day when she served three days in 1990 at the El Segundo jail near the Los Angeles International Airport for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer.

During Hilton’s sentencing on May 4, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled that Hilton would not be allowed any work release, leave of absence from prison or use of an alternative jail, or electronic monitoring in lieu of her term.

Authorities have said their latest celebrity inmate will not be allowed to give television interviews while serving her sentence and that aggressive steps were being taken to prevent cameras from being smuggled into the facility.

Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on Sept. 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of the alcohol-related reckless-driving charge. She was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.

But the heiress was pulled over again by California Highway Patrol on Jan. 15.

Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive.

Then again on Feb. 27, she was pulled over by sheriff’s deputies, at which time she was charged with violating her probation.

A traffic court judge ruled on May 4 that Hilton violated her probation and sentenced her to 45 days in jail.

AP

From: Sabrinia
Time: June 4, 2007, 9:11 am

I respect her for chosing the county jail over a “pay” jail but honestly? I think she shoulda went with the “pay” jail b/c I think regardless the people who dislike her aren’t gonna give her a chance. They’re still gonna diss her and make their dumb, jealous filled comments. I wish people would give her a chance. She IS trying to change, be a more positive person, etc.