(Top) Paris Hilton at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday and (above) the heiress on her way to the Men’s Central Jail with her mother Kathy. Inmates at the Lynwood facility are angry at Paris as they believe officials are making room for the starlet at the expense of others in crowded conditions. (Reuters)

Los Angeles, June 4 (AP): Hours after strolling the red carpet in a strapless black dress, Paris Hilton traded her designer clothes for a jail-issued jumpsuit.

The 26-year-old heiress checked into the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, just after 11:30 pm yesterday. She’s expected to stay in jail for three weeks for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Hilton surrendered to the sheriff’s deputies after making a surprise visit to the MTV Movie Awards in the afternoon.

“I am trying to be strong right now,” she said 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.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton was easy to work with. “Her demeanour was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative,” he said.

Hilton turned herself in at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles just after 10:30 pm, then was escorted to the all women’s facility in Lynwood, where she was booked, fingerprinted and issued a jail uniform, Whitmore said.

She also was given her first meal: cereal, bread and juice.

So far, Hilton does not have a cellmate, Whitmore said. 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.

“Like other inmates in that unit, Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 3.6-metre-by-2.5-metre 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 cellphones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors.

The jail, a two-storey concrete building next to train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway, has been an all-female facility since March 2006. It’s located in an industrial area about 8 km southeast of Los Angeles.

“I did have a choice to go to a pay jail,” Hilton said yesterday, without giving details. “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.”

When she was sentenced on May 4, 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. Sometimes stars are allowed to complete their term in a jail of their choosing. In such cases they pay a daily room-and-board fee to the smaller jails.

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