Tears and Solitude for Paris Hilton in Jail

By Mike Fleeman and Ken Lee

06/06/2007 at 03:00 PM EDT

Soon after Paris Hilton reported to jail late Sunday night, her famously fashion-forward look changed dramatically.

After surrendering her possessions and changing into a standard-issue uniform, Hilton was escorted by two sergeants to her tiny cell, her hands shackled behind her back and her hair tied in a scrunchie made from an elastic sock.

Just hours earlier, Hilton told reporters at the MTV Movie Awards that she was "scared but ready" for her time behind bars – but life in the lock-up hasn't been easy for the heiress.

"She cries all day," a source tells PEOPLE in its new issue. "She looks unwashed, she has no makeup and her hair is tangled. She cried audibly through the first two nights."

The transition from the red carpet to the jail's concrete floor was and swift and dramatic. So what's an average day like for the 26-year-old at L.A.'s Century Regional Detention Facility?

She's confined to a 12-by-8-foot cell in the so-called "high power" pod, reserved for high-profile inmates and those who need extra protection. The prisoners all wear the orange two-piece cotton/polyester-blend uniforms produced by Los Angeles County inmates in sewing classes.

The 12 cells share one TV – now playing: Brad Pitt's Troy – that inmates can see through the windows in their doors. For meals, it's the Simple Life, indeed – dinner June 4 was franks and beans, lunch the next day was a bologna sandwich and two chocolate-chip cookies.

And for a young woman who is used to socializing every night, life must be lonely: "She's in isolation for 23 of the 24 hours of the day," her lawyer, Richard A. Hutton told reporters on Monday. "Because of who she is, they had no choice ... but to place her in administrative segregation."

So far, Hilton has had just two visitors: Hutton and her psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Sophy. Only professionals are allowed to see inmates during the week; visiting hours for family and friends begin on the weekend.

Still, says Hutton: "She's doing very well under the circumstances."