Hilton using jail time to 'reflect on life'

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.