Lindsay Lohan Could End Up Serving Less Than a Week in Jail, Expert Says

The mug shots of Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton. (AP)

In December 2006, Nicole Richie was sentenced to four days in prison for driving under the influence of drugs when she was nabbed traveling in the wrong direction on the Ventura Freeway. On July 27th, Richie checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood California to serve her sentence, but was released after a mere 82 minutes in the big house, or less than 2 percent of her sentence.

Party pal Paris Hilton was less fortunate than Richie, but she still danced a delicate tango around her mandated 2007 sentence of 45 days in jail for parole violation. After attending the MTV Movie Awards, Hilton checked herself into Century on June 3, 2007. Four days later Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca signed an order reassigning Hilton to house arrest with electronic monitoring claiming prison overcrowding. Baca received public outrage for the suspended sentence and on June 8, Hilton was ordered back to jail by Judge Michael Sauer.

Upon hearing her sentence, Hilton became tearful and yelled, “It’s not right.” Hilton ended up spending 23 days, or about 30 percent of her sentence in jail.

So how much of the 90-day sentence for probation violations can Lindsay Lohan expect to spend in the Los Angeles penal system?

Following the hearing, the Los Angeles Sheriff spokesman Steve Whitmore said an inmate in Lohan's situation (a woman sent to jail for nonviolent crimes, not a celebrity) generally serves about 25 percent of their sentence, which in this case would be approximately 23 days.

"A person [of] such notoriety will be kept away from the general population," Whitmore said outside of courthouse.

But Lindsay’s time behind bars could be significantly less than that.

“Luckily for Lindsay, she could get significant jail time shaved off the judge's sentence. Depending on jail overcrowding conditions, which is a common occurrence in Los Angeles County, the Department of Corrections can shave anywhere from 75 percent, even up to 90 percent off her 90-day sentence for a non-violent misdemeanor," Criminal Defense Attorney Stacy Schneider told Fox411. "With extra jail time credits also applied, I am betting she will serve about a week or less."