I’ll admit it. I’m actually offended by this:

Hilton must wear a monitoring bracelet and remain at her home for another 40 days, said sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Medical considerations “played a part” in the decision to offer Hilton home confinement for the remainder of her sentence, Whitmore said. (Watch Whitmore detail Hilton’s deal Video)

He said privacy rules prohibited him from giving details about the medical issues, but celebrity Web site TMZ.com earlier quoted sources saying Hilton was refusing to eat much of the jail food served her.

Although it generally pains me to agree with Al Sharpton (via Drudge) it’s difficult not to in this case:

Though I have nothing but empathy for Ms. Hilton whom I have met and appeared with on Saturday Night Live the night I hosted in 2003, this early release gives all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism that is constantly cited by poor people and people of color. There are any number of cases of people who handle being incarcerated badly and even have health conditions that are not released.

I have served several sentences for civil rights and civil disobedience actions and I even fasted which caused health concerns to prison authorities who paid for a doctor to come see me daily rather than release me. This act smacks of the double standards that many of us raise.

Is it an issue of race? Not really, but it’s almost certainly a class issue. Wealth is a factor but I’d bet that celebrity is playing a far larger role in her release. Officials should have known that their actions, and flimsy excuses, would undermine the credibility of our justice system. They should be held accountable. The sentencing judge seems to agree:

The judge who sentenced Paris Hilton to jail and the prosecutor who pressed for her incarceration objected Thursday to her early release for an unspecified medical condition.

“The judicial process may have been improperly circumvented in this case,” said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. “This explanation is puzzling. Los Angeles County jail medical facilities are well-equipped to deal with medical situations involving inmates.”

As does defense attorney Steve Cron:

Cron said that whether or not Hilton was treated fairly, the outcome doesn’t reflect well on the criminal justice system.

“I’m proud of the system and this makes the system look cheap,” Cron said. “It makes it look like she’s a celebrity and she got a sweetheart deal. It will further the perception that celebrities are treated differently.”

Update:
People are outraged and L.A. officials are getting a beatdown:

Los Angeles government officials are being bombarded with e-mail from Americans enraged by the early jail release of Paris Hilton. A sampling of correspondence received this morning by members of the city’s ruling Board of Supervisors can be found below. The 25 letters on the following pages appear representative of the thousands of missives flooding government officials in the wake of yesterday morning’s release of Hilton, 26, from a county lockup. The letters blast Sheriff Lee Baca’s decision to spring the heiress after only three days in custody, with one correspondent wondering how much Hilton’s family paid to secure her release. To no surprise, the word “travesty” appears in many of the letters.

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