Paris Hilton Begins Three Week Jail Sentence

Mere hours after strolling down the red carpet in a strapless black dress, Paris Hilton traded her designer duds for a jail-issued jumpsuit.

The 26-year-old heiress entered the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday to begin serving her three week sentence for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

At the MTV Movie Awards earlier that day, she briefly spoke to reporters about her sentence. "I am trying to be strong right now," Hilton said. "I'm really scared but I'm ready to face my sentence."

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Sheriff's office said Hilton was obliging. "Her demeanor was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative," he said.

Hilton turned herself in a little after 10:30 p.m. and was escorted to the all women's facility in Lynwood. There she was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued an orange top and pants. Hilton's booking photo, shown on the left, revealed the heiress in what seemed to be a V-neck shirt, eye makeup and lip gloss with her hair draped over one shoulder.

That same night, the "Simple Life" star was given her first meal: cereal, bread and juice. She will be housed in the "special needs" unit of the 13-year-old jail and will be separate from most of its 2,200 inmates. The unit contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. Hilton's cell has two bunks, a table, a sink, a toilet and a small windowand she will not have a cellmate.

Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 12-by-8-foot space for at least an hour each day to shower, watch TV in the day room, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the communal telephone (no cell phones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors).

The jail is a two-story concrete building next to train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway. It has been an all-female facility since March 2006 and is located in an industrial area about 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Hilton said Sunday, "I did have a choice to go to a pay jail, 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."

She was sentenced May 4 and Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled that she would not be allowed any work release, furloughs or use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail.

In the past, stars have been allowed to do their time in a jail of their choosing, paying a daily room-and-board fee to the smaller jails, which afford them more privacy and comfort. Zsa Zsa Gabor, for example, paid $85 a day and served three days behind bars in 1990 at the El Segundo jail near the Los Angeles International Airport.

Hilton arrived in an unmarked sport utility vehicle with her mother, Kathy, on Sunday in front of about a dozen photographers and television crews staked out at the Lynwood facility.

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."

Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on Sept. 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. She was pulled over 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. She then was pulled over by sheriff's deputies on Feb. 27, at which time she was charged with violating her probation.