It may not be a torture-fest in a Chinese prison, but Jack Bauer began his 48-day DUI sentence on Wednesday for pulling an illegal u-turn after a September night out and violating his probation in the process.

The star will serve 48 days at the private Glendale City Jail, spending Christmas, New Year and his birthday on December 21 inside. Sutherland was handed the sentence after he was caught driving under the influence in September.

He will wear a standard-issue orange jumpsuit for the duration of his stay in the 48-cell facility, and came equipped with reading material and underwear when he booked into the prison…

Sutherland [was also sentenced] to five years probation, …an 18-month alcohol education program and…weekly therapy sessions for six months. (more)

It’s been a bumpy road for Jack since his Lost Boys/Young Guns/Flatliners heyday, and his notorious 6 blood-drenched days with the Los Angeles branch of CTU haven’t done anything to bolster his emotional well-being either. Having lost first wife Teri at the hands of his treasonous lover Nina Myers only a few years after losing fiancé Julia Roberts to professional pigface and occasional paedophile Lyle Lovett, the troubled actor-come-agent has taken to drinking a lot, kitting off in public and tackling Christmas trees. That’s when he’s not shooting people in the legs, eating throats and suffering from sporadic outbursts of mild cussing, of course. Can we really blame him for just snapping and committing a minor traffic offence? For Godsake, the man’s put his life on the line for all of us who happen to live in southern California and never once has anyone questioned the countless speeding, parking, wreckless driving and hit-and-run violations he’s accumulated over the years. Sure, 48 days in Glendale might not be 20 months in a Chinese hell-hole, but come on. I think it’s time that George Bush stepped up and granted a full presidential pardon. Jack could just stick it in his top drawer with the rest of the pardons he’s received from the 43 US presidents he’s saved in the last decade.

I feel sorrow for Glendale’s current inmates. Poor bastards.