Hotel heiress spends first night in prison

US hotel heiress Paris Hilton was doing well after spending her first night in solitary confinement at a Los Angeles County jail, her lawyer said.

“She’s using this time to reflect on her life, to see what she can do to make the world better and hopefully, in my opinion, to change the attitudes that exist about her among many people,” attorney Richard Hutton told reporters after visiting Hilton.

The 26-year-old checked into the Century Regional Detention Facility in suburban Los Angeles just after 11.30pm on Sunday to serve 23 days for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Hilton surrendered after a surprise appearance earlier that day at the MTV Movie Awards, where she worked the red carpet in a strapless designer gown.

Now in jail-issued clothes, Hilton was being housed in a special unit where she was spending 23 hours a day in a solitary cell, Hutton said.

“If she was an ordinary citizen she would have been placed in the general population ... she’d be living in a dorm with 30, 40, 50 other women and the time would pass pretty quick,” Hutton said.

“She is really being punished because of her celebrity.”

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, said Hilton was easy to work with.

“Her demeanour was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative,” said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Hilton, accompanied by her mother, surrendered at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. She was then escorted to the women’s facility in Lynwood, where she was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued with an orange top and trousers, 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.

After checking in, Hilton was given her first meal: cereal, bread and juice.

The Simple Life star was 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.

Like other inmates in that unit, Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 12-foot-by-8-foot 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 mobile phones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors.

Although the accommodation is sparse for Hilton, it’s a step up from the general population.

“You have people defecating on themselves, urinating on themselves, sleeping on the ground _ it’s horrible,” said Shamarra Thomas, 31, of Los Angeles, who spent two days in a holding cell for neglecting to pay parking tickets.

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 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

When she was sentenced on May 4, the judge ruled she would not be allowed any work release, furloughs or use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail.

Despite believing she received an unfair punishment, Hilton was taking responsibility by serving her time, her attorney said.

“She knows it’s wrong, but her attitude is, ’I’m going to come in here, I’m going to do my time, I’m going to get it over with and I’m going to show the world who I really am’,” Hutton said.

Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on September 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, alcohol education and 1,500 in fines.

She was pulled over by California Highway Patrol on January 15. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended licence and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive.

She was pulled over by sheriff’s deputies on February 27, at which time she was charged with violating probation.