“Simple Life” star’s hour-long incarceration ends

After spending a grand total of 82 minutes behind bars in Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, Nicole Richie, the Hollywood celebrity and an adopted daughter of 1980s pop music star Lionel Richie walked free on Thursday.

The Los Angeles socialite Richie was originally sentenced to serve four days in jail after pleading guilty to her second DUI last month but was released after serving just over an hour in Lynwood prison, the same suburban Los Angeles jail where Paris Hilton spent 23 days behind bars for drink driving.

The 25-year-old US reality TV star and red-carpet fixture Richie, who is five months pregnant with her rocker boyfriend Joel Madden, entered a women's jail at 3.15pm on Thursday to serve time for a driving violation last December, and walked out of the facility same day at 4:37 p.m.

After being spotted driving in the wrong direction on the 134 Freeway in Burbank, California, Hollywood celebrity Richie was arrested on DUI charges on December 11. She was found stopped in a carpool lane by police, and afterwards failed a field sobriety test. Richie admitted to police officers that she had smoked marijuana and consumed the painkiller Vicodin.

On July 27, a Superior Court Commissioner Steven Lubell in Los Angeles sentenced the star of the hit reality television show “The Simple Life” to 4 days in jail for driving under the influence of drugs. In his judgment, the court commissioner ruled that Celebrity socialite Richie must complete her jail term by September 28, serving it in either a city or county jail. The sentencing officer gave her credit for six hours she had earlier served in jail, slashing the time to 90 hours.

Besides 90-hour sentence, she also was fined US$2,048 as well as placed on three years probation and ordered to enroll in a court-supervised rehabilitation programme for two-time offenders. The commissioner also warned Richie that she could end up doing 12 months behind bars if she violates her probation.

Meanwhile, defending their decision to release Richie early, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department explained that prison population levels have prompted officials to release Richie after the brief prison spell.

"Miss Richie was cooperative," an L.A. County sheriff's official said. "Based on her sentence and Federal Court guidelines, Miss Richie was released at 4:37 p.m."

On the same day, Lindsay Lohan, an American actress and pop music singer, has reached a plea deal on drunken driving and cocaine charges. Besides serving a day behind bars, the plea deal would see her serve 10 days of community service, and complete drug treatment and a three-day coroner program.

The American actress and pop music singer, Lohan must have her day in jail before January 18.

Lohan has a history of alcohol-related incidents. In May, she was sued by a photographer Giovanni Arnold who alleged the actress was driving the car that struck and injured him in New York in March.

She had crashed her 2005 Mercedes SL-65 on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles in the early hours on May 26th, when she was driving home in her luxury car, along with two other people, after partying at Los Angeles nightclub Les Deux with friends. At the time, police officers confirmed they found a "useable amount” of a drug tentatively identified as cocaine at the accident scene.

In July, Lohan landed herself in hot soup for driving under the influence of intoxicants and possessing a narcotic. The police arrested Lindsay for driving under the influence and cocaine possession in the early hours on Tuesday (July 24) morning in Santa Monica, California.

She had earlier been linked to a hit-and-run incident on Memorial Day. She was charged with two misdemeanor charges in that case – driving under the influence and hit and run.