Attorney's quibble over Hilton's release... Contd.

Attorneys differed on whether her treatment was unusual.

Leonard Levine, who has handled numerous probation violation cases said that she would have gotten out anyway, as overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jail system has led to thousands of nonviolent offenders serving only 10 percent of their sentences, and that she did as much time as a normal person would have done.

Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson said that she suspected the deal for Hilton's early release was in the works even before she entered the jail system - and that officials probably were anxious to get her out of their custody, as the time and resources needed to take care of a celebrity like Paris Hilton would have been huge, and everything the jail authorities did for her would have been under close scrutiny.Levine said that with rewards being offered for pictures of Hilton in custody, jail officials would have had to monitor the cell phone cameras of every employee.

Rene Seidel of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said he had "never heard of" an inmate being released from jail for a medical condition.Inmates with a cold are sent to a jail clinic, he said, and the seriously ill go to the jail ward of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Hilton's path to jail began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a Hollywood street in her Mercedes-Benz on what she said was a late-night run to a hamburger stand. She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. In the months that followed she was stopped twice by officers who discovered her driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to jail.

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