Updated at 10:47 a.m., Thursday, June 14, 2007
Paris Hilton out of medical ward, back in jail
By ROBERT JABLON
Associated Press
Hilton was brought late Wednesday to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood and placed in the medical clinic there. If all goes well, she will return to the jail's special-needs unit and be released June 25, spokesman Steve Whitmore said at a news conference.
The 26-year-old socialite and reality TV star began her 45-day sentence June 3 at Lynwood, where she was confined to a solitary cell in the special-needs unit away from the other 2,200 inmates.
After three days, Hilton was sent home by Sheriff Lee Baca for an unspecified medical condition that he later said was psychological.
Judge Michael T. Sauer, who specified at Hilton's sentencing last month that she not serve time at home or with the use of electronic monitoring, sent her back to jail last Friday, saying he hadn't condoned her release.
Hilton was taken to the downtown Twin Towers jail, which houses men and the county's medical treatment center, where she underwent medical and psychiatric exams to determine where she should be held.
She failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes-Benz last September. Hilton pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to three years' probation.
In the months that followed she was stopped twice by officers who discovered her driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to jail.
Hilton's case has caused a firestorm of criticism over whether she was getting special treatment because Baca sent her home after serving just three days of her sentence.