Lindsay Lohan spends 84 minutes in jail

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Lindsay Lohan checked in and out of jail on Thursday, spending just 84 minutes behind bars for a drunken driving and cocaine-possession conviction, Los Angeles police said.

Lohan, 21, had been sentenced in August to one day in jail after admitting guilt to drink and drug charges and was told by the court to serve her time before January.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Web site showed that Lohan checked into jail at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and was released at 11:54 a.m.

The charges stemmed from a July car chase and an arrest in May after she wrecked her car in Beverly Hills. After her July arrest, the star of the hit movie "Freaky Friday" checked into a rehabilitation center in Utah and spent more than two months there.

It was Lohan's second stint in rehab this year after admitting she had been attending meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Lohan was also sentenced to 10 days of community service, three years probation and 18 months of an alcohol-education program.

Jail sentences for minor crimes are often cut short by Los Angeles sheriffs, who manage the county jails, because of overcrowding. In August actress Nicole Richie of "The Simple Life" spent one hour, 20 minutes in jail for what was a four-day sentence for driving under the influence of drugs.

In July, a media frenzy surrounded socialite Paris Hilton's three-week stint behind bars for a driving violation. Hilton had been sentenced to 45 days, was released after three days, and then sent back after an outcry over perceived preferential treatment.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant editing by Philip Barbara)