Paris 'not eating or sleeping'

PARIS Hilton has not eaten or slept since arriving at the medical ward of a Los Angeles jail and is being given psychoactive drugs, celebrity website TMZ.com has reported.

The socialite and hotel heiress was ordered back to jail yesterday after a judge overruled a sheriff's decision to place her under house arrest for psychological problems after she had spent three days of an expected three-week term behind bars.

The 26-year-old "has been crying a lot, praying'' and is ``extremely withdrawn'', TMZ reported.



Hilton was visited by her psychiatrist, Dr Charles Sophy, for more than two hours this morning. She is being held in a room by herself with a glass door that is guarded at all times, the report said.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff, declined to comment on the report. "Anything to do with her medical stuff I can't confirm or deny,'' he said.

A spokesman for Hilton could not immediately be reached for comment. Hilton's early release by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca sparked national outrage and accusations of preferential treatment because of her celebrity status.

Today, however, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer's order to return her to custody was sparking controversy, with television pundits and others debating whether he had overstepped his bounds in overruling Mr Baca.

Mr Baca has defended his decision, saying that Hilton was under an early-release program established to ease jail overcrowding and that she was serving more time than other inmates in the same low-level category.

Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail last month for violating probation in a drunken-driving case by driving on a suspended license.

Yesterday she trembled and cried quietly throughout the hearing, then broke into loud sobs when the judge ordered her back into custody.
"Mom, Mom. It's not right,'' she wailed as she was led out of the courtroom. Her mother, Kathy Hilton, also sobbed