Paris Hilton has been released from jail after serving just three days of her 45-day sentence for driving offences.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department has confirmed that the hotel heiress was freed shortly after midnight and will serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest for "medical reasons".

She was driven out of jail in the dead of night and managed to avoid detection by the paparazzi who have been vying for lucrative pictures of her incarceration.

Reports have suggested that Hilton has not been eating or sleeping since her arrival last Sunday at the Los Angeles County jail. She has phoned her lawyers to complain about her pillows and blankets and is said to have spent hours sobbing in her cell.

We'll always have Paris

She's dismissed as an airhead heiress and the queen of trashy modern celebrity. But is there an enduring icon behind the glitzy blonde facade? Giles Hattersley meets Paris Hilton

BACKGROUND

• Paris Hilton: a jailbird no more

• Paris Hilton is behind bars

• Paris shares cell with jailbird who won’t sing

• Paris does porridge

• All the thrills and spills of Hilton’s celebrity trial

Multimedia

• Audio: listen to Paris' attempted pop career

Related Links

• Paris Hilton hauled into court after phone row

“Paris Hilton has been fitted for an ankle bracelet and put under house arrest, after authorities determined to release Hilton from prison due to medical reasons,” said Steve Whitmore, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Officials refused to discuss the nature of Hilton’s medical condition, but confirmed that the decision to release her from jail was made after extensive consultation with medical personnel.

The pre-breakfast announcement is the latest twist in the most closely observed celebrity case since O.J. Simpson was televised fleeing from police in 1994.

She was reportedly allocated a cellmate who has promised not to sell her story to the tabloids. Prison officers were warned they would be fired if photographs or tape recordings leaked out during Hilton’s stay. That hasn’t stopped details emerging of the socialite's time behind bars.

The New York Post reported that she has been seeing a councillor and refused to eat her prison-issue hot dog on Tuesday night.

Hilton’s sentence had been reduced from 45 to 23 days for good behaviour, but under the deal to release her into the community she will now serve the full term.

The celebrity inmate has officially served five days as she checked into jail just before midnight on Sunday and was released soon after midnight on Thursday morning.

The star of the Simple Life reality television show will not be able to travel more than 30 yards from her house for the next 40 days.

The development is bad news for her neighbour, Cameron Diaz, who complained that the paparazzi tracking Hilton before she went to jail had ruined her weekend.

“She made her bad choices, she’s gonna have to deal with it,” she is reported to have said. “There were ten helicopters above her house, which I live not too far from. I was like, ‘Could you please keep it down.’ We all suffer when Paris suffers.”

Hilton is likely to host some well-known visitors during house arrest in her mansion in the Hollywood Hills. One of her legendary parties was broken up by police earlier this year and guests have included Diaz, Nicole Ritchie and Britney Spears.

Hilton was jailed for driving while banned. She was arrested in Hollywood last September for reckless driving and had her licence suspended and was told to attend alcohol education classes.

In January she was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol and forced to sign a document reminding her that she was not allowed to drive her car. A month later she was caught at the wheel once again, this time she was charged with violating her probation.

Hilton remained defiant on the eve of her incarceration and made a surprise appearance at the MTV Movie Awards a few hours before checking into jail.

“I hope that I’m an example to other young people,” she told a confused crowd outside the film awards show. “I did have a choice to go to a pay jail. But I declined because I feel like the media portrays me in a way that I’m not and that’s why I wanted to go to county, to show that I can do it and I’m going to be treated like everyone else. I’m going to do the time, I’m going to do it the right way.”

She was housed in the “special needs” unit at the jail in Lynwood and not forced to interact with most of her 2,200 fellow inmates.

The wing is reserved for celebrities and former police officers, but the conditions are still basic. Her 12-foot cell contained two bunk beds, a sink and toilet and apparently insufficient bedding.

Times Recommends

• Would you live on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall?
• Wish you were here, says Iraq tourist board
• Russian policeman’s corruption plea to Putin