Early jail release for Lost star

Rodriguez admitted violating her probation terms

Former Lost star Michelle Rodriguez has been released from jail 18 days into a six-month sentence linked to a number of driving offences.

The actress, who played Ana-Lucia in the drama, was released because of Los Angeles County jail overcrowding.

A jail programme allows non-violent female inmates to serve reduced terms.

Back in 2006, Rodriquez was released from the same prison one day into a 60-day sentence for breaking a probation order by drink-driving.

The sheriff supports, obviously, the desire to have inmates serve their full sentence but the county has only one women's jail and it is bursting at the seams Steve Whitmore Sheriff's spokesman

In October, Rodriguez was given her latest sentence after admitting violating her probation by failing to provide proof of community service and by drinking alcohol while wearing a monitoring device.

The judge who sentenced the 29-year-old actress had indicated that she should serve her entire 180-day term.

But the Sheriff's Department, after consulting the judge, overruled that order.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said: "The sheriff supports, obviously, the desire to have inmates serve their full sentence but the county has only one women's jail and it is bursting at the seams."

Up to 50 women a day were released early, he added.

Actress Lindsay Lohan and reality TV star Paris Hilton have previously served a fraction of their sentences at Los Angeles County jail.

Avatar role

In 2004, Rodriguez pleaded no contest to three offences, including hit-and-run and drink-driving, in Los Angeles.

She was sentenced to two days in prison, ordered to perform community service and put on probation for three years.

She violated that probation the following year when she was arrested on another drink-driving charge in Hawaii.

And in May 2006, she was released just over four hours into her resulting 60-day sentence.

The actress, who has also appeared in Resident Evil and The Fast and the Furious, has been cast in James Cameron's new science fiction adventure Avatar alongside Sigourney Weaver.

The film is due out in December 2009.