Actress Lindsay Lohan begins her supposed 90-day jail sentence on July 20—but the celebrity might be looking at more like a few weeks—and no one should be surprised to see Lohan walk free after just 9 days. The Sheriff’s Department says non-violent female offenders typically serve only 25% of their sentences (which would be roughly 22.5 days in Lohan’s case)—but based on time served by previous celebrity personalities, actual jail times ranges between 0.2% to a maximum of 10%.
Lohan’s jail stay will be at the 16-year-old Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California—a jail located south of downtown Los Angeles. The actress will be housed in the 2,200-bed facility's Special Needs Unit—where she’ll live in isolation during her jail stay--for what the jail claims is for the actress’ own safety. Experts say the real reason for isolation is to protect the jail and its reputation—to make sure that no jail staff or inmate manages to snap that Lohan pic worth millions.
Jail overcrowding and a California state program which credits inmates for good behavior, nonviolent female misdemeanor offenders—including Lohan--usually serve only about 25 percent or one-quarter of their sentences, says the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
So how much time is Lohan really going to serve? Looks like Lohan's 90-day sentence is likely to be reduced to about three weeks or less—the star could be out of jail well before her new “Machete” movie is released, maybe even for the action-thriller’s premiere on September 3.
It won't be Lohan's first visit to the jail—the actress can literally say she’s been there before—the Lynwood facility is Los Angeles County's only all-female jail since 2006, and the actress spent roughly 84 minutes there in 2007 for a drunk driving violation. Lohan was actually sentenced to a full day, but that daylong sentence was reduced drastically because of the jail’s overpopulation issue. In fact, Lindsay Lohan only had time to be searched, fingerprinted and placed in one of the jail’s holdings—but jailers allowed the actress to keep her street clothes, knowing the “time served” would be brief.
This time Lohan’s looking at a longer sentence, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to long. The jail says Lohan will get the standard issue orange jumpsuit and simple toiletries that all inmates receive. But per her “special needs” and assignment to that jail unit, Lohan will be served meals in her cell—room service for jails. Lohan will be what’s considered a “keep away”—kept away not only from other inmates—but mainly to ensure that jail staff doesn’t snap a mobile phone photo to be bartered or handed to the highest bidder. The actress will also get to be outside of the 12x12 foot cell for at least an hour per day—and she’ll get a public pay phone at her disposal.
The Lynwood jail seems to be the celebrity hotspot—Paris Hilton had her briefest of stints at the facility and Alexis Neiers, reality TV “starlet” from E!'s “Pretty Wild” is doing time for a six-month sentence that followed implication in the break-in of Orlando Bloom’s residence. Neiers' mother, Andrea Arlington, has criticized the Lynwood jail's conditions on Twitter—implying that the jail water made her daughter sick and that things aren’t up to par. But, then again, it is—after all—jail. Lynwood is sure to ensure that its water doesn’t upset Lohan’s health.
Neiers' lawyer, Rubenstein, says the 19-year-old (aspiring) model had a hard time with the solitary life experience—including eating "really bad food" like noodles and apples to being woken up throughout the night. Apparently the barely-past-teen has never had to survive on the Top Ramen “lifestyle”.
Rubenstein visited his client, Neiers recently, communicating to the media that there’s buzz in anticipation of Lohan’s arrival—proving that attorneys are no less of gossips than Hollywood’s finest.
Lynwood jail’s got quite the celebrity roster: other jailhouse celebs from the past include Daryl Hannah (jailed for a few hours in 2006 after alleged trespassing during a tree-sitting demonstration). Paris Hilton, of course, serves as an unforgotten Lynwood celeb. The jail facility also can’t forget those jail stays from Nicole Richie and Khloe Kardashian, who each served time for the same charge in the respective years of 2007 and 2008----surprise, surprise: for more drunken driving charges.
Both Richie and Kardashian received “celebrity justice”--serving less than a day in Lynwood jail for those drunken driving charges.
Michelle Rodriguez has served “hard” jail time herself at the Lynwood facility—twice. The “Lost” actress arrived in 2006, to serve what was supposed to be a complete 60-day (1,440 hours) sentence. Again, the charge was related to probation violation of a drunken driving arrest. And, again, the “offender” was released after serving only hours of a 1,440-hour jail sentence.
Apparently, someone at the police station or jail is no darned good at mathematics—celebrity sentences seem to find their way to a far lesser term than the 25% term quoted by the Sheriffs Department. The “reason” for the light jail time does seem directly correlated to celebrity status:
A quick breakdown of celebrity time sentenced vs. celebrity time served.
Celebrity Actress Michelle Rodriguez: time served: about 3 hours, actual sentence: 1,440 hours (Rodriguez served just 0.2% of the jail sentence)
Celebrity Actress Michelle Rodriguez: time served: about 18 days, actual sentence: 180 days (Rodriguez served just 10% of the jail sentence)
Celebrity Khloe Kardashian: time served: about 4.5 hours, actual sentence: 720 hours (Kardashian served just 0.6% of the 30-day jail sentence)
Celebrity Nicole Ritchie: time served: roughly 82 minutes, actual sentence: 96 hours (Ritchie served just 1.5% of the 4-day jail sentence)
Celebrity Paris Hilton: time served: roughly 4 days, actual sentence: 1,080 hours (Hilton served just 0.8% of the 45-day jail sentence)
For more premium accommodations, Lindsay Lohan’s legal counsel could petition the court to "pay to stay" in one of about a dozen smaller jails—those “pay to stay” facilities are sprinkled throughout Los Angeles, including locations at nearby Beverly Hills, Burbank or Glendale. Kiefer Sutherland was jailed at the “pay to stay” in Glendale, a newer 5-year-old jail, and a judge allowed Sutherland to serve 48 days in 2007 and 2008 related to drunken driving charge—again, because of county jail overcrowding.
Lindsay Lohan’s decision to petition a judge for the “pay to stay” jail service could be related to several factors: Lohan isn’t exactly on any judge’s Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanza list—so even the slightest of “requests” by the celeb could throw things into even worse terms with thejudge. More likely the reason Lohan didn’t opt for a “pay to stay”: public jail might actually work to the celeb’s benefit in getting out early or way ahead of schedule. “Pay and stay” jails are far less likely to be overcrowded, and far more likely to want those funds the detainee’s kicking in for every night of stay—if there’s a chance to be released early, or really early, it’s probably not happening at a “pay and stay”. Lynwood’s jail, however, has reflected a pretty consistent pattern of getting those celebs out the door—fast.
Los Angeles area jails must be awfully overcrowded—particularly the Lynwood location: celebrities seem to walk in, only to walk back out hours or mere days later. Somehow, other people in jail just don’t seem to encounter that same “luck”—despite overcrowding, they’re still stuck while celebrities roam.