Lindsay Lohan starts jail sentence

Lindsay Lohan has been taken into custody to begin serving her jail sentence for breaking probation.

She was handcuffed behind her back after a brief hearing having arrived 10 minutes late, prompting the judge to start dealing with other matters.

The judge told Ms Lohan's lawyer and a prosecutor that she wanted to meet them later to discuss issues in the case.

Ms Lohan was accompanied by her mother, Dina and younger sister Ali, who wiped away tears after her sister was taken into a lock-up. The actress's father, Michael Lohan, was also present.

The judge ordered officials not to allow Ms Lohan to serve any of her sentence on house arrest or work release, but she is likely to spend much less time in custody than her three-month sentence.

The judge decided two weeks ago that the Mean Girls star violated her probation by missing seven alcohol education classes since December.

She has been on probation since August 2007 after pleading guilty to drug charges and no contest to three driving charges.

Ms Lohan is expected to serve her sentence in isolation at a suburban Los Angeles jail that has housed other starlets, including Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, Michelle Rodriguez and Ms Lohan herself for 84 minutes in 2006.

Ms Lohan's imprisonment comes after her lawyer was rumoured to have quit her case hours before she was set to face a court to surrender for a 90-day jail sentence.

On Friday, celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro signed on to the case after Ms Lohan moved into a "sober living facility" that he founded. By Monday night, the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ.com, citing anonymous sources, reported that he had resigned from the case.