Treatment was given priority over incarceration in the case of Lindsay Lohan. Sheriff Steve Whitmore confirmed that the 24-year-old actress would go straight to a court-ordered treatment facility upon release, but he would not name the program.
"The court order specified that certain named people would pick her up. It's our understanding she went directly to a treatment center," he said, adding that, "when an inmate is released, they leave with the clothes they came in. She was given two huge bags full of mail and books. She was noticeably moved by the amount of mail and books sent to her. She thanked everybody as she left."
The paper reported that there was the expected crush of media outside the Century Regional Detention Facility awaiting the release of Lohan, who on July 20 began serving her sentence for violating probation on a 2007 DUI conviction. She was originally slated to check into a different facility, but the judge in the case changed the location after fearing information could be leaked about Lohan's treatment.
"There was concern that [Morningside Recovery] was not a secure enough facility," district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison said. Judge Marsha Revel was reportedly also concerned that drugs could be easily passed to the "Mean Girls" actress at the other facility.
Lohan could potentially be sent back to jail if the court is notified of any additional probation violations during her treatment. In the year following her release, she will be subject to random drug testing.
Lohan is a textbook case of spriling addiction that gets caught in the snowball of punishment handed down by ruling judges. Indeed, incarceration often is the only intervention that works despite what you see on TV. If she truly surrendered in jail, then Lindsay can enjoy the freedom of sobriety.
