Paris Hilton has been sent home from jail thanks to a doctor's note.
The hotel heiress formerly known as inmate 9818783 made an early exit from the Century Regional Detention Facility shortly after midnight Thursday, after serving just three full days of the 45 days to which she was originally sentenced.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton had been diagnosed with "medical issues" that resulted in her being "reassigned" to house arrest for the next 40 days.
He said he was prohibited by law from going into specifics about said medical issues, except that it was not due to a staph infection or some kind of jail outbreak.
"After extensive consultation with medical personnel, including doctors here at CRDF, it was determined that Paris Hilton would be reassigned to our community-based alternative to custody electronic-monitoring program," Whitmore said.
"She has been fitted with an ankle bracelet. And she has been sent home. And she will be confined to her home for the next 40 days. Because she has agreed to this through her attorney, her sentence is now back up to 45 days. She has already served five days, so that's 40 days."
By Whitmore's accounting, she got credit for two extra days because she surrendered before midnight on Sunday and was released after 12 a.m. Thursday. She was transferred to the custody of her attorney at 2:09 a.m., Whitmore said.
He described Hilton's demeanor as she left the facility as "focused."
He also said she will have to foot the bill for her home confinement, which amounts to about $100 a day, and that the ankle monitor restricts her movements to between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet.
That should allow Hilton the run of her 2,700-square foot home in the Hollywood Hills. The Spanish-Style residence sits on a 0.14-acre lot above her Sunset Strip stomping grounds, and boasts four bedrooms and a swimming pool.
The homebound heiress issued a statement through her attorney Thursday, expressing her gratitude to the authorities who oversaw her time in custody.
"I want to thank the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and staff of the Century Regional Detention Center for treating me fairly and professionally," she said. "I am going to serve the remaining 40 days of my sentence.
"I have learned a great deal from this ordeal and hope that others have learned from my mistakes."
Hilton, 26, entered the Lynwood, California, jail just hours after making a red carpet appearance at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards. She was placed in the facility's Special Needs Unit, where she spent 23 hours a day in a 12-by-8-foot cell.
Some members of her family and her attorney told E! Online she was "doing well" during her brief sojourn behind bars. However, others in her family admitted that Hilton was not eating, and People magazine quoted one jail source as saying that "she cries all day"; Hilton also received a two-hour visit from her psychiatrist on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The early exit came as news to Paris' sister, Nicky, who was telling friends Wednesday night that she planned to visit her incarcerated sibling over the weekend, according to E! Online senior editor Marc Malkin.
Looks like Nicky will have to change her plans and drop by her sister's home instead.
The Simple Life star was handed her 45-day sentence for violating probation on an alcohol-related driving charge on May 4.
Though Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer initially said Hilton could expect to serve her full sentence, with no provisions for house arrest or monitoring bracelet, the sentence was later sliced in half due to a California statute that grants credit for good behavior.
And the house arrest and ankle bracelet turned out to be options after all, but not with the judge's approval.
Superior Court spokesman Alan Parachini said that Sauer had been consulted on Wednesday about the decision to reassign Hilton to house arrest, and he "reaffirmed the terms of the sentence" ordering that she remain locked up.
Parachini said the judge could not comment on the sheriff's decision to release Hilton from his custody.
"The way the system works is that the court imposes the sentence and the sheriff incarcerates," Parachini said. "The sheriff makes decisions concerning the conditions of confinement and early release. Early release is an everyday occurrence."
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said Thursday that it was imperative that the sheriff make Hilton serve out every last day of her home confinement.
"This incident with Paris Hilton is just the most recent that highlights the problems our criminal justice system has with making sure sentences stick, whether it is in a county jail or under electronic monitoring," Knabe said in a statement.
Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke said that she would ask the sheriff for a report on the circumstances leading to Hilton's release.
"The decision is not inconsistent with current department policy. I do understand that there is massive overcrowding and there have been a lot of releases as a matter of practice," Burke said.
Though overcrowding led to Michelle Rodriguez's early release from the same jail last year, it was not a factor in Hilton's release, according to Whitmore.