Whisked away to a women's jail in an unmarked sheriff's car after a brief hearing, Lindsay Lohan reported for a 90-day sentence that the troubled actress likely will serve in isolation, and which may be significantly shortened.
Wearing dark denim jeans, a grey top, black corset belt and black jacket, the 24-year-old Lohan showed up at the Beverly Hills courtroom about 10 minutes late.
After a short hearing, she rose and was handcuffed behind her back to serve her time for a probation violation.
Lohan was accompanied to court by her mother, Dina, and younger sister Ali, who wiped away tears after her sister was taken into a lockup.
Her estranged father, Michael Lohan, yelled, "We love you Lindsay!" as his daughter was led away.
She was then taken across town to the Century Regional Detention Facility in the industrial suburb of Lynwood. In court, Lohan was represented by her longtime lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, who had resigned earlier but never filed a formal motion with the court.
Famed celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro said on Friday that he had agreed to represent the actress, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel said on Tuesday that he had told her hours earlier that he would not take the case.
Holley said after the hearing that Lohan had decided she did not want Shapiro to represent her.
"She's stepped up, she's accepted responsibility," Holley said of her client.
"She's scared as anyone would be, but she's as resolute and she's doing it."
Prosecutor Danette Meyers said she thought Lohan was receiving the appropriate sentence.
She said the case, which is atypical for the attention it receives, spotlighted that drunken driving is a serious offence with consequences. "Someone can get killed," Meyers said.
"Hopefully it has opened a number of eyes."
While the judge did not address Lohan's tardiness on Tuesday directly, she did order her to report to probation officials within a day of her release from jail.
The judge had previously ordered Lohan to report within two days.
Revel also has ordered officials not to allow Lohan to serve any of her sentence on house arrest or work release.
Two weeks ago the judge determined that the Mean Girls star violated her probation by missing seven alcohol education classes since December.
She had been on probation since August 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanour drug charges and no contest to three driving charges.
Lohan, a prolific user of the microblogging site Twitter, posted a message roughly 12 hours before her court appearance referencing her looming incarceration. "The only 'bookings' that I'm familiar with are Disney Films, never thought that I'd be 'booking' into jail eeeks," Lohan posted.
The jail and rehab stints have left some of the actress' projects in limbo, including her planned portrayal of porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic. Once considered an up-and-coming star, Lohan has in recent years been better-known as a tabloid staple and for the criminal case she has struggled to put behind her.
Her probation had to be extended for a year to give Lohan more time to complete her alcohol education courses and Revel ordered weekly attendance in December. But the actress didn't complete the sessions as ordered and missed a court date in May, setting a stage for her return to jail. She is expected to serve her time - probably a quarter of her sentence or less - in isolation at a women's jail in the industrial suburb of Lynwood.
The facility has hosted several female celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Michelle Rodriguez, Khloe Kardashian and very briefly, Lohan.
She will be forced to wear a jail-issued jumpsuit and be given a set of simple toiletries that all inmates receive: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, deodorant, shampoo and shaving implements.
Hilton received one for her own secluded 23-day stay in 2007 for reckless driving charges.
