Judge puts tearful Paris behind bars again

The hotels heiress was taken from the courtroom to the cells screaming and crying and shouted out: "It's not right."

She had originally been sentenced to 23 days in a tough women's jail.

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A tearful Paris is taken to court

Paris is handcuffed and led into the police car

But she was released after just 72 hours amid fears that she was on the brink of a mental breakdown.

The 26-year-old socialite was told she would instead be kept under house arrest for 45 days at her £3million Hollywood Hills compound.

Judge Michael Sauer, who originally jailed her for flouting a drink-driving ban, had ruled Hilton should not receive special treatment.

Paris Hilton has been ordered back to court and could face jail again

And hours after she was freed he ordered her to appear before him in Los Angeles yesterday. He ignored her lawyer's pleas and ordered she serve out the full 45 days in custody.

Lee Baca, the sheriff responsible for the LA prison system, was also forced to explain why he had approved the home custody deal.

Court officials had said Hilton would be allowed to phone into the court rather than appear in person.

But when Judge Sauer heard the news, he told police to bring her to him in handcuffs.

Hilton started her short jail term on Sunday and was released on Thursday with an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor her movements while under house arrest.

Jerry Brown, California's attorney general, said he believed she should serve out her sentence in prison.

"It does hold up the system to ridicule when the powerful and the famous get special treatment," he added.

"I'm sure there's a lot of people who've seen their family members go to jail and have various ailments, physical and psychological, that didn't get them released."

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Mr Baca dismissed the criticism, saying his decision had been based on medical advice.

"It isn't wise to keep a person in jail with her problem over an extended period of time and let the problem get worse," he said before yesterday's hearing.

"My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice."

The LA County jail system is so overcrowded that it is not unusual for non-violent offenders such as Hilton to be released after serving as little as a tenth of their sentences.

Hilton's path to jail began last September, when police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes 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 of probation, alcohol education and £750 in fines.

In the months that followed she was stopped twice in her car by officers despite the fact she had been banned from driving.

The second stop landed her in Judge Sauer's courtroom, where he sentenced her to jail.