Paris Hilton Says Jail Changed Her Life
By SANDY COHEN
AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES � Paris Hilton told CNN's Larry King she would never again drink and drive and that her time in jail was "a time-out in life."

In her first televised interview since leaving jail, a demure Hilton said Wednesday that even though she's an Aquarius and "we're social people," her time behind bars taught her "there's a lot more important things in life" than partying.

"I'm frankly sick of it," Hilton said, with loose, re-blonded locks and camera-ready makeup. "I've been going out for a long time now. Yeah, it's fun, but it's not going to be the mainstay of my life anymore."

She said her incarceration was "a very traumatic experience" that inspired a "journey" of self-discovery that she intends to continue. The world will see a new Paris Hilton, she said.

"I'm glad it happened in a way because it's changed my life forever," she said in the pre-taped, hour-long interview. "I feel stronger than ever and, I don't know, I feel like this is a lesson in disguise."

The hotel heiress spent about 23 days in custody before she was sprung Tuesday. Hilton passed the time, she said, considering "what was important and what I want to do."

Among those plans? Using her fame to bring attention to social causes rather than the newest Hollywood nightspot.

"I feel like being in the spotlight, I have a platform where I can raise awareness for so many great causes and just do so much with this instead of superficial things like going out," she said. "I want to help raise money for kids and for breast cancer and multiple sclerosis."

Hilton said a big misconception about her is that she lives off her family's money.

"I completely disagree with that," she said. "I work very hard. I run a business. I've had a book on The New York Times best-sellers list. I'm on the fifth season of my TV show. I did an album. I do movies."

The media has exaggerated her party-girl image, she said, telling King twice she's never taken drugs and does not have a drinking problem.

"I'm not really into it," Hilton said of drinking.

Asked why she never tried to correct inaccurate reports of partying and drug use, Hilton said, "I'm telling you right now so I put a stop to it."

Alone in her cell for 23 hours a day, Hilton devoted herself to reading, writing and thinking. She said she made plans to help her fellow inmates and imagined ways to be "a more responsible role model."

"I feel like God does make everything happen for a reason," she said. "And it gave me, you know, a time-out in life just to really find out what is important and what I want to do, figure out who I am."

Educated in Roman Catholic schools, Hilton said she's "always been religious" and "always had a sense of spirituality but even more so after being in jail."

She bought a Bible from the jail commissary and read it daily, she said. Asked to name her favorite passage, she smiled and looked away.

"I don't have a favorite," she said.

At various points during the interview, Hilton read excerpts from her jailtime journals, beginning each passage with a heavy sigh. She wrote about being at a crossroads, characterizing it as "neither a downfall nor a failure, but a new beginning," and about her "compassion for those I left behind at the prison."

"I want to help set up a place where these women can get themselves back on their feet," she read. "I know I can make a difference and hopefully stop this vicious circle of these people going in and out of jail."

Hilton said she suffers from claustrophobia and attention deficit disorder, for which she takes medication. She said sheriff's officials released her to home confinement after just three days because of claustrophobia and anxiety and panic attacks.

After a judge ordered her back to jail, Hilton said she coped by meditating and reading letters from fans. But she still had nightmares of "someone trying to break into my cell and hurt me."

"Just the whole idea of being in jail is really scary," she said. "I hate to be alone so that was really just hard for me in the beginning."

When asked about the party crowd she hangs with, including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and her reality TV co-star Nicole Richie, Hilton said "everybody makes mistakes."

"I think it's hard for anyone when you're in the spotlight so much," she said. "It's overwhelming for any young girl, but I've handled it well."

quote:

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"I think it's hard for anyone when you're in the spotlight so much," she said. "It's overwhelming for any young girl, but I've handled it well."

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Uh, no.

Hey, where is that positive re-enforcement we hear works so well in drugs courts? Someone give her a piece of candy.

Los Angeles sheriff probing claims that Paris Hilton got special treatment in jail

Associated Press

Probe into Hilton jail stay
LOS ANGELES � The Sheriff's Department opened an investigation Thursday into allegations that Paris Hilton received special treatment during her 23 days in jail for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case, authorities said.

The internal probe will examine whether the hotel heiress was given free access to a cordless phone instead of being forced to wait in line to use a pay phone at certain hours, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Also under scrutiny are claims Hilton received a new jail uniform instead of the recycled ones given to many inmates and that her mail was delivered by a captain instead of inmate trusties, Whitmore said.

Lindsay Lohan does 84 minutes in jail
By ROBERT JABLON
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lindsay Lohan was a jailbird for just 84 minutes Thursday, becoming the latest celebrity to serve less than a day for a drunken driving offense.

Lohan, 21, turned herself in to the Los Angeles County women's detention center in Lynwood at 10:30 a.m. She was searched, fingerprinted and placed in a holding cell in the inmate reception area but got to keep her street clothes, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Lohan was released at 11:54 a.m. Her original daylong sentence was reduced because she met criteria that took into account overcrowding at the lockup and the fact that her crime was nonviolent, Whitmore said.

Did the celebrity receive special treatment?
"Absolutely not. This is what we do for most everybody in this position," Whitmore said. In fact, 30 to 50 women are granted early releases from the facility every day, he added.

In August, she reached a plea deal on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges stemming from the arrests. The judge sentenced her to four days in jail - the mandatory minimum for a second drunken-driving offense - but gave her credit for 24 hours already served. She elected to complete 10 days of community service instead of 48 hours behind bars.

The total deal called for her to enter treatment, spend a day in jail and perform community service.

"It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs," Lohan said in a statement released by her publicist in August.

Lohan had until Jan. 18 to serve the jail time.
She spent two minutes longer in lockup than Nicole Richie did in August for a similar offense.

Maybe this article should be placed under the deadly weapon thread too. After all that is what she is

JAS

Rehab worked so well for the others!

Mike Tyson Sentenced to 1 Day in Jail
By CHRIS KAHN � 6 hours ago

MESA, Ariz. (AP) � Mike Tyson could have received more than four years in prison. He left the courtroom having to serve all of one day in an open-air jail. The former heavyweight champion was sentenced Monday for cocaine possession and driving under the influence.

"I take responsibility for my actions," Tyson told the judge. He left the courthouse flanked by supporters, lit a cigar and drove away in the back of a black Mercedes.

The 41-year-old boxer will serve his day in jail Tuesday for DUI. He received three years of probation for the cocaine charge and also will have to pay a fine, submit to drug testing and serve 360 hours of community service.

He will be incarcerated in Tent City, Maricopa County's infamous jail near a dog pound and trash dump. Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tyson will wear the standard-issue pink underwear and black-and-white striped uniform. He'll stay in an unoccupied area, apart from Tent City's 1,500 other inmates. Tyson visited juvenile inmates in Tent City in 1999, telling them to stay out of trouble.

"Apparently he didn't listen to his own advice," Arpaio said.

Prosecutors had argued that Tyson should be behind bars, given his violent criminal past. But Superior Court Judge Helene Abrams was impressed with how the boxer has tried to atone following his Dec. 29 arrest in which his car almost hit a sheriff's deputy's vehicle.

"You worked to address your addiction and self-destructive behavior," Abrams said before sentencing him.

Tyson had numerous supporters in court, including former wife Monica Turner and people who worked at a California drug treatment clinic where he was treated, lawyer said.

Prosecutor Shane Krauser recommended one year in prison, although the maximum was four years, three months. Krausner said Tyson was a multiple offender who previously had been convicted of a violent crime and that only now has he sought treatment for his drug addiction.

He noted Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland in 1999.

"Judge, by my calculations, this is his fourth or fifth chance," Krauser said.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas was disappointed by the sentence.

"His intentional criminal conduct seriously endangered the public," Thomas said in a statement.

Tyson, who used to live in Paradise Valley, was spotted driving erratically last year after leaving Scottsdale's Pussycat Lounge. An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his speech was slurred. Police found bags of cocaine in his pocket and in the car.

Tyson told officers later that he used cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it," and that he preferred to smoke it in cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out, according to court documents. He also told police he used marijuana that day and was taking an antidepressant, the documents state.

In September, Tyson pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count. Since his arrest, he checked himself into an inpatient treatment program in California for what his lawyer called "various addictions." Attorney David Chesnoff described the Dec. 29 arrest as a victimless crime that hurt only Tyson.

In court, Chesnoff said his client had taken 29 drug tests without a relapse since his arrest and that he's attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He told Abrams that Tyson had become an example of how one overcomes problems with drugs, a violent past and poor upbringing.

"He's tried his hardest despite coming from almost impossible beginnings," Chesnoff said.

In 1986, a 20-year-old Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion when he knocked out Trevor Berbick. He lost his title four years later, knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas. By 1997, Tyson's career hit a low when he bit Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight.

Tyson recently had been trying to revive his career with a series of boxing exhibitions

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An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his speech was slurred.

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when you say slurred, you mean it sounded sort of whistley?

I feel certain that the threat of an 84 minute period of incarceration will serve to discourage a lot of other second-time DUI offenses. Especially if you fear you might have to do 10 days worth of labor too.