Sheriff Baca: “This Lady Has Severe Problems”

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L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca claims there was simply no room at his jail for a “low-level offender” like Paris Hilton — and her “severe” medical problems were only getting worse.

In a statement to the press, Baca said, “There’s 20,000 inmates — the largest jail system in the United States … It’s very overcrowded.”

According to Baca, 90% of the inmates in L.A. County jail are serious felons — many held on murder charges or attempted murder charges. Paris was one of the “low level” offenders — who usually serve 10% of their sentences.

Baca also said that he reassigned Hilton based on “her severe medical problems,” and confirmed TMZ’s original story that her condition was mental. Baca said that her “increasingly deteriorating problems” were evaluated and added, “This lady has some severe problems.”

Baca added that she was medicated when she originally entered the jail system … and “I can’t trust her tenuous status,” referring to her mental state. “She had a severe problem,” said Baca, “I need more cooperation from the courts and form the city attorney’s office.”

For now, Baca says he will comply with the court order and keep her behind bars — “If there’s any further deterioration, hopefully we’ll be able to address it.”

TMZ

From: colin
Time: June 8, 2007, 5:54 pm

They should concentrate on catching rapist,muderer etc and not Paris hilton. It would be a waste of tax payers money to keep Paris in the slammer. She served 3-4 days and that’s enough

From: Sabrinia
Time: June 8, 2007, 6:01 pm

This is so freakin absurd. If she were a “normal” person she would have been released by now. Also where was the outrage when Michelle Rodriguez was released after not even serving a DAY of her sentence? This is BS. Paris SHOULD be out by now. Normally for this type of offense people are released after serving 10% of their time, Paris HAS served 10% of her time, so what the heck? I don’t think she should get better treatment than a normal person would get BUT I also think she shouldn’t get worse treatment either and that’s exactly what is happening. Justice was definitely NOT served today.

From: miss stake
Time: June 9, 2007, 1:55 am

i’m not a paris hilton fan, but i do agree that she was treated worse because of her fame. but i also feel that she was treated better as well. nobody has ever been released from jail early and given the option of electronic monitoring simply for having a medical condition. in fact, most people who “freak out” in jail get ignored altogether. they don’t have the luxury of several medical personnel evaluating and attending to their condition, let alone being released for that condition. it’s hard enough just to wave down a guard to tell him that you need to see a doctor when you’re an ordinary inmate. on the flip side of the argument, the court treated her worse by seeking out punishment in jail. sabrinia is right: most ordinary people wouldn’t be sentenced to 45 days just for violating probation in a moving violation. i’ve seen people violate probation several times, and they simply had their probation reinstated. although i do have to note that even if she didn’t commit a violent crime, the nature of offense was still seen as potentially harmful in the eyes of the court. yes, traffic violations are minor compared to rape and murder, but if her driving had caused a tragic accident, then she would be looking at vehicular homicide. if she had been busted for possessing illegal substances like tom sizemore did, then it wouldn’t have been so bad. carrying or using drugs doesn’t usually harm other innocent people (unless you drive while high), but DUIs and reckless driving do. so yes, the court was harsh on her by handing her a 45-sentence for a low-level offense (driving on a suspended license usually gets you a fine or Cal Trans and summary probation, and most probationers get to violate their probation three times before they have to serve time). but yes, the jail and sheriff’s department was really easy on her by releasing her early, giving her house arrest, and alllowing so many medical staff to attend to her needs. It would be fair to say that she got out early because she’s paris hilton (or because she paid a lot of money to be released early). But it would also be fair to assume that paris hilton was sentenced to jail because of her celebrity status. People are sick of seeing celebrities get free passes just because of who they are. So now the judicial system feels the need to crack down on high profile offenders. They very well might have used paris hilton to set an example for the rich and famous, to tell those elite few that they can’t repeatedly break the law and get away with it anymore. plus, the court has to deal with the public’s outrage when a high profile offender is given an easy break. if this exact same scenario had happened to an average joe, then he or she would most likely not have served any time at all because the rest of the world wouldn’t have known about it and gotten pissed at the judicial system for letting that person go.

From: andrejfromlatvia
Time: June 9, 2007, 2:54 am

All this problems from fans , and haters…if all be quite she will be at home now…. I’ll Love You forever Paris !!!