Bobby Brown spins the turnstile in and out of jail

By Christie D’Zurilla

March 21, 2013 12 AM PT

Bobby Brown has taken the turnstile approach to jail, serving his 55-day sentence with only eight hours behind bars Wednesday.

Just when he thought he was in, they pulled him back out again — or something like that?

The R&B; singer will now spend eight days wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, according to L.A. Now, which reported that county probation officials decided to go the monitoring route. Prior to that, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department had said Brown was likely to serve only nine days max because of overcrowding and time off for good behavior and the like.

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(Seriously, though, how much “behavior,” good or otherwise, can a person have in one eight-hour stretch? OK, don’t answer that. And incidentally, the eight-hour number came from the sheriff’s spokesman, though other outlets put the jail term at a whopping nine hours.)

For context, remember that in 2011 Lindsay Lohan served 30 days in about five hours. In 2010, it took her 13 days to plow through a 90-day sentence before she headed off for 90 days in rehab that wound up taking only 23.

Brown pleaded no contest in February to driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license after an October arrest, his second in 2012. He got 10 days for drunk driving, another 10 days for driving on a suspended license and 35 days for violating his probation in the earlier DUI case.

Though a sheriff’s spokesman told L.A. Now he didn’t have all the specifics on where the former Mr. Whitney Houston can and can’t go while he’s got the bracelet on, he said that inmates typically can’t leave home while they’re being monitored.

In addition to the jail time, brief as it was, Brown’s deal also includes four years’ probation, an 18-month alcohol-treatment program and the requirement that he attend three AA meetings a week. He’ll also have an ignition interlock device installed on his car.

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