Lohan is due to surrender Tuesday to a
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has not
said exactly how long it plans to incarcerate Lohan, but authorities
have said that it could amount to only 25 percent of her sentence. Some
speculate that it could be even less, given jail overcrowding and the
relatively minor nature of Lohan’s probation violation on a drunken
driving arrest.
The situation puts the Sheriff’s Department in a
tough position, coming three years after Hilton’s early release from
jail created national headlines and ultimately resulted in the hotel
heiress being shipped back to jail to finish her sentence.
“The sheriff and his department know they are going
to be under the microscope. They know they are going to be vilified if
people perceive she’s getting out early or is getting special
treatment,” said
it’s too early to know exactly how long Lohan will spend behind bars.
While the department has guidelines about how much time nonviolent
female inmates serve, it is possible that the judge’s order will
mandate a certain amount of time.
“We won’t know until the judge remands her into our
custody and we see the judge’s written order,” he said. “That order
could dictate what the Sheriff’s Department can do with Lohan. It could
say no alternatives. No work release or involuntary electronic
monitoring.”
The jail overcrowding problems are actually less than what they were when Hilton was sent to jail.
Between 2002 and 2006, more than 150,000 inmates
walked free after serving a fraction of their sentences — many of them
less than 10 percent. A 2006 Los Angeles Times investigation found that
almost 16,000 inmates released early were rearrested while they were
supposed to still be in jail. Sixteen were charged with murder.
In 2007, when
to jail, female inmates convicted of the same type of offense typically
served as little as 10 percent of their sentences, and some were
immediately released.
The housing boom of the mid- to late-2000s helped
fill the county’s coffers with property tax revenue, allowing the
Sheriff’s Department to increase the length of jail stays for men to 80
percent of their jail times.
But in March, Sheriff
During the fluctuations in early releases, the
jail that Lohan is expected to enter Tuesday is one where jail managers
have struggled to keep women behind bars longer. Today, female inmates
who are sentenced for low-level offenses and do not have serious
criminal histories generally serve 25 percent of their time.
Other factors play into how long someone remains
incarcerated. An inmate who enrolls in a drug rehabilitation program in
jail could end up serving a larger percentage of their sentence so that
they can complete the course, Whitmore said.
To ease the space crunch, jail supervisors have also
offered nonviolent inmates the chance to serve their sentences at home
while wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. Other low-level inmates
have been involuntarily placed on home detention to make room in the
jails for more serious offenders.
A
judge earlier this month sentenced Lohan to jail, saying she had
repeatedly lied to authorities and failed to attend weekly alcohol
education classes that the court required when she plead guilty to a
drunken driving charge in 2007.
Over the weekend, Lohan stayed in the Pickford Lofts, a sober living facility founded by her new attorney,
Shapiro would not get into specifics about what he
expects to happen Tuesday but in a statement indicated he will ensure
that she complies with the judge’s directions:
“I have agreed to represent Ms. Lohan on the
condition she comply with the terms of probation, including a
requirement of jail, imposed by Judge
Ms. Lohan is suffering from a disease that I am all too familiar with.
Hopefully, I can be of assistance to Ms. Lohan and Judge Revel in
implementing a treatment approach recommended by medical professionals
for Ms. Lohan’s long term recovery and sobriety.”
Sheriff’s officials say that during Lohan’s stay she
will, like Hilton, be isolated from the general population for her own
safety and that this is usually the case with well-known people. The
jail has already housed in recent years
Former
prosecutor Gorin said “she is going to get special treatment in terms
of jail housing. Her experience isn’t going to be that of typical
inmate.”
In the wake of Hilton’s time, the union representing
Sheriff’s deputies complained that Hilton had free access to a cordless
phone while other prisoners must wait in line to use pay phones during
set hours. Hilton also received daily visits from top brass at the
And officials were allegedly ordered to give her a new jail uniform while many inmates use recycled ones.
In
Independent Review issued a report that said even though releasing
Hilton to home detention was “extraordinary,” Baca had not violated
policy in ordering her to be released.
The review also noted that Hilton’s release was not
out of the ordinary because most female misdemeanor offenders serve
only four days of their sentences.
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