Paris Hilton's sentence cut

May 17, 2007, 11:20 GMT

Paris Hilton REUTERS/Herbert Neubauer

Paris Hilton will only serve half of her 45-day jail sentence.

The hotel heiress, who was found guilty of violating her probation by driving with a suspended licence, will also be separated from the majority of the other inmates.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore revealed Paris will spend a minimum of 23 days in a "special housing unit" at Lynwood's Century Regional Detention Center. Whitmore said: "Paris will do fine if she follows the rules. The possibility that she will be processed in and out in a day is over. She will do her full time, minus 22 days because of a state jail policy encouraging good inmate behaviour.

"The decision was reached after an evaluation of all factors, including the judge's written orders, the nature of her offence, and her lack of a criminal history. We will treat Paris as we would any other inmate. That's our goal."

Paris, 26, will be housed in a unit containing 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, celebrities and other high-profile inmates.

She will be entitled to spend one hour outside her cell each day - to shower, exercise, make phone calls or watch TV.

Paris has been ordered to report to the jail by June 5.

It had been reported that Paris could leave prison within hours of arriving due to the prison's overcrowding issues.

Paris' representative Elliot Mintz declined to comment on the decision to cut his client's sentence.

Meanwhile, Paris' mother Kathy Hilton wants young people to learn from her daughter's mistakes.

In a statement read on US TV show 'The View', Kathy said: "We can only hope that something positive will come from all of this. Hopefully, young people who look up to people like Paris will learn from this."

(C) BANG Media International