Los Angeles: A sobbing Paris Hilton was ordered back to jail on Friday as a judge overruled a sheriff's decision to place the hotel heiress under house arrest for psychological problems after she spent three days behind bars.
The slender 26-year-old celebrity trembled and cried quietly throughout the hearing, then broke into loud sobs when the judge ordered her back into custody.
"Mom, Mom. It's not right," she wailed as she was led out of the courtroom. Her mother, Kathy Hilton, also sobbed.
But rather than return immediately to the sprawling women's detention centre where she began serving an expected three-week term for violating probation in a drunken-driving case, Hilton was taken to the medical wing of a Los Angeles jail.
Sheriff Lee Baca said she will be treated there for the unspecified psychological problems that had led him to "reassign" Hilton on Thursday to home confinement with an electronic monitoring device on her ankle.
The sheriff's decision sparked national outrage and accusations of preferential treatment for a celebrity, though Hilton's original 45-day sentence was considered by many to be excessive.
"Her medical condition was deteriorating and we didn't know how to fix it," Baca, who oversees the county's jail system, said at a news conference defending his move to place Hilton under house arrest.
"We have her in the correctional treatment centre – that is a special wing. I am not going to say exactly what her mental problem is," he added.
Hilton was returned to custody after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer ordered her to complete her sentence in jail, rejecting arguments that Baca had the discretion to "reassign" inmates to house arrest for health reasons without court review.
Excesses of celebrity culture
The ruling marked a stunning turn of fortune for the multimillionaire socialite who has become a symbol of privilege and the excesses of America's celebrity culture.
"Let's not make a judicial or criminal justice football out of this woman," Baca said.
Baca said Hilton was scheduled to serve another 18 days behind bars under a standard credit applied against her term for time served on good behavior.
The star of the television reality show The Simple Life was sentenced to jail last month for violating probation in a drunken-driving case by driving on a suspended license. The exact nature of Hilton's condition remained a mystery.
Baca said she had not been taking prescribed medication for a psychological problem but declined to elaborate.
The sheriff denied Hilton was given preferential treatment, saying that under an early release program established to ease overcrowded jails she was actually serving more time than other inmates in the same low-level category.
"Under our early release program, she would not have served any time in our jail, or would have been directly put on our home electronic monitoring system," he said.
"So the special treatment, in a sense, appears to be ... more time in jail." Friday's court hearing was delayed two hours due to confusion over whether Hilton would testify by video from her Hollywood Hills home, or in person.
Finally, she was handcuffed and placed weeping into a sheriff's car for the trip to court wearing drab gray sweatpants and no make-up. Judge Sauer said the sheriff's department never gave him any documentation of Hilton's condition.
"I at no time condoned the action of the sheriff," Sauer said from the bench. The City Attorney's Office said Baca overstepped his authority and should be held in contempt of court for violating the judge's sentencing order, which prohibited house arrest or work release.
Celebrity website TMZ.com said Hilton's lawyer was planning to appeal her sentence.
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