Bobby Brown's Insta-Jail Sentence: Why It's Not the Shortest...for a Star

Singer sort of stopped by jail, which, nowadays, passes for a sentence

By Leslie Gornstein Mar 21, 2013 10:11 PMTags
Bobby Brown Jackson Lee/Splash News

Did Bobby Brown's celebrity status get him out of jail early?
—R. Love, via Twitter

Not just early. The New Jack Swinger checked out of the gray bar hotel so fast that he may have left before he even got there; we're talking less than a day in jail for a supposed 55-day stint in stir.

The official reason: Overcrowding, which, these days, supposedly cuts the average jail sentence to 10 percent of its original length.

Unless you're a star...

The reality is, most celebrities spend much less time in jail than that 10 percent.

Need some math? Sure you do.

Nicole Richie was once sentenced to four days in jail stemming from a DUI bust. Now, if she did the 10 percent average, that would be 9.6 hours in jail. Richie did 82 minutes.

One of Lindsay Lohan's scrapes with the law included a 24-hour sentence in 2007 for DUI and cocaine troubles. And 10 percent of that, in case you're not sure, is 2.4 hours. Lohan did 84 minutes. Close, but no 10 percent.

As for why stars get out early(er) than the average 10 percent, well, know this: Many of them don't.

In 2011, T.I. did 10 months of an 11-month sentence stemming from a probation violation. Michelle Rodriguez served 18 days of a 180-day jail sentence. And in case you're counting, that is exactly 10 percent.

Hey, at least it's a harsher sentence than locked rehab...or is it?