The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported that Lohan checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Facility, and was released hours later.

Story highlights

NEW: Lindsay Lohan is focused on "her community service obligation," her spokesman says

Lohan is released after several hours in jail

Lohan was sentenced to 30 days after admitting to violating her probation

Judge: A homeless charity rejects Lohan, but "the morgue is willing to keep you"

CNN  — 

Actress Lindsay Lohan was released from jail early Monday morning, just hours after she was booked in, authorities said.

Lohan, 25, checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, at 8:48 p.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on its website.

By 3:10 a.m. Monday, Lohan had been released, Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Pope said.

Last week, a Los Angeles County judge ordered Lohan to serve a 30-day jail term after she admitted she violated her probation on a necklace theft conviction.

At the time, Los Angeles County Sheriff spokesman Steve Whitmore said it was likely Lohan could be booked in and booked out the same day.

“It depends on the fluctuations of the day, what’s going on in the jail,” Whitmore said.

The actress must work at least 12 days a month at the county morgue until she completes the 53 remaining days on her court-ordered community service, Judge Stephanie Sautner told her. Lohan must also attend 18 psychotherapy sessions.

If Lohan misses any of those goals, she will be returned to jail for another 270 days, the judge ruled.

“This is what we really call putting the keys to the jail in the defendant’s hands,” Sautner told Lohan.

Lohan’s spokesman, Steve Honig, said Monday, “Lindsay is very focused on fulfilling her community service obligation so she can put all of this behind her.”

The actress admitted violating her probation during a hearing Wednesday.

“You are not to get house arrest or early release, except for that required by the law,” Sautner said.

Whitmore said that the early release program is part of the law, meaning Lohan would likely get out quickly due to overcrowding.

Lohan did a short stint in jail last year.

When Sautner sentenced Lohan to 120 days in jail last May, she ended up serving 35 days of home confinement instead, due to jail overcrowding and state rules that give prisoners credit for good behavior.

It was not immediately clear how many days Lohan will actually serve this month if she ends up getting credit for good behavior.

Prosecutors said Lohan missed 12 of 20 scheduled workdays at a downtown Los Angeles women’s center, part of the court-ordered community service imposed in May when she pleaded guilty to stealing a necklace from a Venice, California, jewelry store.

Lohan was already on probation for two drunken driving convictions from 2007.

She also canceled 14 of 19 scheduled appointments for court-ordered psychotherapy, they said.

“From what I see of you, you need a structure,” Sautner told Lohan last week. The judge instructed Lohan to return to court each month, starting December 14, to show she is complying with the schedule.

If the actress stays on track, her probation would be eased on March 29, 2012, Sautner said. If she doesn’t keep up with the requirements, she will serve the additional 270 days behind bars, the judge said.

The full sentence imposed Wednesday was 150 days for the necklace theft probation violation and 150 days for violating probation on the 2007 drunk driving conviction in Beverly Hills.

While the original sentence included 360 hours of community service at a downtown Los Angeles women’s center, the judge said she did not want to put the Skid Row charity through the pain of Lohan again.

When the judge called The Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women, the charity refused to take Lohan on as a worker, “saying you were a bad example,” Sautner said.

But Lohan seemed to find a good fit with her work at the Los Angeles County morgue, where Deputy Chief Coroner Ed Winter said she worked four days in the past two weeks cleaning up.

“So, the morgue is willing to keep you,” the judge said.

All of her community service work has been transferred there, she said.

In October, the actress’ father, Michael Lohan, told HLN’s “Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell” program that his daughter shouldn’t be in jail, but in rehab.

Michael Lohan was arrested twice in two days last month for violating a court order to stay away from his former girlfriend. CNN learned last week that he is now in an “administrative confinement” cell in the infirmary section of Orient Road jail in Tampa, Florida, where he was awaiting trial.

Lindsay Lohan’s legal woes, which began four years ago with two drunk driving arrests, have been compounded by her failure to attend counseling classes.

Her probation is scheduled to end within a year unless Lohan breaks any laws before then. It has been extended several times because of violations, including failed alcohol and drug tests.

CNN’s Alan Duke and Maria P. White contributed to this report.