She’s expected to be released on Monday.

In the letter to an unidentified fan, published by showbiz website E! Online, she wrote: "I read your letter and just wanted to thank you for your kind words of love and support.

"The fact that you took time out of your day to write me truly means the world. Especially at such a difficult and scary time in my life."

Paris went on: "But I am being strong and trying to make the best out of the situation. And the letters I’m receiving really do put a smile on my face as I sit here in my cell, sad and alone."

The letter is signed "Love always, Paris Hilton".

A Paris spokesman said: "That letter was written by Paris. She’s been trying to respond to her fans as they write, personally."

A judge sent the socialite to the downtown correctional treatment centre last week after her controversial brief release home with an electronic ankle tag.


Paris parents positive after jail visit - June 19 2007
Paris Hilton is settling into her cell and is doing better, her parents said after a weekend visit to the jail where she’s being held.

They said the 26-year-old is passing the time at the Century Regional Detention Centre in Lynwood, California, reading letters from fans, relatives and friends and reflecting on her life.

"Basically just reading and just sitting there thinking... what she wants to do with her life and the changes that she wants to make," Kathy Hilton told Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren yesterday.

"She’s never been alone so this is, as she calls it, a real time out," her mother said of Sunday’s visit, where the socialite talked to her parents from behind a glass partition.

Rick Hilton also denied rumours that his father donated money to Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca to garner favours for his daughter.

He said the donation was made one and a half years ago, and it was just a thousand dollars.

"A lot of business people in Los Angeles I’m sure also donate to the sheriff," he said.

Paris is expected to be released on June 25, when she will have served about 23 days of a 45-day sentence.

"She sees the light at the end of the tunnel," her father added.


Paris leaves prison medical ward - June 14 2007
Paris Hilton has been transferred out of the medical ward at a Los Angeles County jail and returned to the all-women’s facility where she began her sentence for a probation violation more than a week ago, a sheriff’s official said today.

The heiress and reality TV star was taken to the Century Regional Detention Centre at about 11pm local time yesterday, Lt Daryl Meeks told the Associated Press.

He would not elaborate on where she was housed at the facility in Lynwood. When she began her sentence there on June 3, she was confined to a cell in a special unit away from other prisoners.

Paris’s case caused a firestorm when she was released from Lynwood last week by sheriff’s officials to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case in home confinement.

Sheriff Lee Baca said the 26-year-old was released because of an undisclosed medical condition. Critics said the celebrity was getting special treatment.

An outraged judge sent her back to jail on Friday.


Paris ’cold and tired’ in jail - June 14 2007
Jailed heiress Paris Hilton has seen her parents for the first time while behind bars, according to US reports.