Paris Hilton starts serving jail term

ADMITTING she was frightened, heiress Paris Hilton traded in her Guccis and designer clothes for jail garb last Sunday night as she began serving a 23-day sentence in Los Angeles for violating probation, her attorney said last Sunday.

"Paris Hilton has turned herself in to begin serving her sentence for violating probation at a Los Angeles County Jail located in Lynwood, California," attorney Richard Hutton said in a statement.

It also quoted the 26-year-old hotel heiress as saying: "This is an important point in my life and I need to take responsibility for my actions. In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make ... Although I am scared, I am ready to begin my jail sentence."

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Hilton was booked at 11.38pm last Sunday.

Celebrity news site TMZ.com said the surrender was done out of the glare of photographers staking out the Lynwood facility.

It said Hutton picked up Hilton at her parents' house and drove to the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, where she surrendered to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. From there, she was driven to the jail in Lynwood, about 24km away.

TMZ added that her family went with her to surrender.

Hilton was due to turn herself in by today to start serving her term, which already has been cut from 45 days to 23 days under state sentencing guidelines.

Earlier in the evening, she attended the MTV Movie Awards near Hollywood, where she was the butt of comedians' jokes.

Hilton was arrested for drunken driving in September, and in January, she pleaded no contest — the equivalent of a guilty plea — to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving. She was sentenced to three years' probation and had her licence suspended.

But the heiress was caught driving on a suspended licence in February when police stopped her for going over the speed limit.Reuters