Paris Hilton trades high life for prison cell (Roundup)

Jun 5, 2007, 0:07 GMT

Paris Hilton in seen in this booking photo released by Los Angeles County Sheriff\'s Department. Admitting she was frightened, heiress Paris Hilton traded in her Guccis and designer clothes for jail garb on Sunday night as she began serving a 23-day sentence in Los Angeles for violating probation, her attorney said on June 3, 2007. REUTERS/Los Angeles County Sheriff\'s Department/Handout

Los Angeles - Saying she hoped to set 'an example for other young people,' socialite Paris Hilton has spent her first night in prison for violating her parole for drunk driving.

The 26-year-old still must endure at least another 22 nights behind bars at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood California.

Just hours before reporting for lock-up Sunday night - two days earlier than expected - Hilton strode down the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, where she was the butt of presenters' jokes.

The heiress to the hotel fortune now trades the high life of glitz and glamour for a Spartan cell in the all-female prison facility.

'I'm really scared but I'm ready to do this,' Hilton told reporters at the MTV show. 'And I hope that I'm an example to other young people.'

'I am ready to face the consequences of violating probation. During the past few weeks, I have had a lot of time to think and have come to realize I made some mistakes,' she said in a statement released by her lawyer.

Hilton was stopped while driving on January 15 and again on February 27 while her licence was suspended for an earlier bust. She also failed to enroll in an alcohol education programme within 21 days of the order directing her to do so, court documents say.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Hilton slipped in to jail late Sunday night unnoticed by the hordes of paparazzi that usually trail her every move. Celebrity photographers were waiting outside the Lynwood lock-up but Hilton surrendered at a men's jail in downtown Los Angeles and was then transferred to the suburban facility.

She was accompanied to jail by her lawyer Richard Hutton, her mother Kathy Hilton and her sister Nicky, TMZ.com reported. A police officer described Hilton as 'cooperative and focused' but said that police would not issue any further comment until her release. A mug shot of her showed the heiress in a white prison uniform, still wearing make-up and smiling demurely.

Hilton is expected to be alone in her cell 23 out of 24 hours every day, after jail officials cancelled a roommate assignment made earlier. For the other hour Hilton will be allowed to shower, use a phone and watch TV in a small pod adjacent to her cell.

Police have taken aggressive steps to prevent cameras being smuggled into the jail - with photos of Hilton behind bars expected to fetch as much as 500,000 dollars.