'Paris is in for a stay in hell'
2007-06-05 09:39
Lynwood - Paris Hilton spent her first night in a Los Angeles County jail, a place that can only be described as hell, according to inmates released hours after the heiress went in.
"It's hell. Go to jail and you'll find out," Alicia Singleton, 23, said on Monday as she left the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood after serving five weeks for a crime she refused to describe.
Hilton worked the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday afternoon, then traded her strapless designer gown for a jail-issue jumpsuit and a solitary cell.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail, did not comment on Monday, as the media crowd outside the jail grew larger than over the weekend.
The 26-year-old heiress checked into the jail just after 23:30 on Sunday to serve 23 days for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. She is due out on June 26.
Singleton said she and other inmates were asleep when Hilton checked in.
Around 07:00, they learned Hilton was there when they watched the news. To most of them, it was no big deal. "Oh, Paris, Paris, Paris. If you do the crime you've got to do the time," Singleton said.
Hilton surrendered after a surprise visit to the MTV awards in the afternoon.
"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."
Booked, fingerprinted and photographed
Sheriff's spokesperson Steve Whitmore said Hilton was easy to work with.
"Her demeanour was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative," he said.
Hilton, accompanied by her mother, surrendered at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles just after 22:30, and was escorted to the all women's facility in Lynwood, where she was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued an orange top and pants, Whitmore said.
Hilton's booking photo showed the heiress wearing what appeared to be a V-neck shirt, eye makeup and lip gloss that highlighted a slight smile. Her long blond hair was draped over one shoulder.
Initially, sheriff's deputies accidentally released a mug shot taken last year after Hilton was arrested by Los Angeles police. The photo showed Hilton smiling, in full makeup and with her head tilted to the left and blond hair flowing over her bare shoulders.
No cellmate
The mistake was made because the sheriff's department and LAPD mug shots are in the same database, Whitmore said. "It was an inadvertent release."
After checking in, Hilton was given her first meal: cereal, bread and juice.
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 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 window. She does not have a cellmate.
Like other inmates in that unit, Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 3.7-by-2.44-meter space for at least an hour each day to shower, watch TV in the day room, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the telephone.
No cell phones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors.
For someone accustomed to luxury, the jail will clearly be stark.
Very dirty
But inmates also said the facility is very dirty and that as prisoners are checked in, they are given pamphlets on infections, according to Teresa Jones, a 50-year-old who was released on Monday and declined to say for what crime she was imprisoned.
"That place is hell, it's awful. Life is easy compared to this," Jones said.
Belinda Meraz, 30, who spent two weeks in the jail for what she called "absconding on a warrant," said it would not be peaceful for Hilton and that the guards are constantly screaming at the inmates.
She said she believed that other inmates were jealous of Hilton.
"There are too many haters in there," she explained.
- AP