Lindsay Lohan has been taken into custody to start a 90-day jail term for violating her probation on a 2007 drunk-driving and cocaine-possession charge.

The 24-year-old "Mean Girls" actress appeared at a Beverly Hills courtroom where she was formally sent to a women's jail by Judge Marsha Revel.

Revel ordered TV cameras and court photographers not to take photos of Lohan as she was handcuffed and taken away from the courtroom.

Lohan, wearing a grey T-shirt, looked tired and tense in the brief hearing. She did not speak. Her time behind bars could be reduced to about three weeks under programs for good behaviour and jail overcrowding.

Lohan, who has voluntarily spent the past week in a sober living facility in Los Angeles, is expected to serve her jail time in isolation for her own security.

Revel sentenced a tearful Lohan two weeks ago after ruling that she had again failed to complete weekly alcohol education classes imposed in 2007. Lohan must also attend a 90-day residential rehabilitation program on her release from jail.

The actress spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 as part of her sentence for the two 2007 drunk driving and cocaine possession offenses. This time, she will have to wear a standard orange prison jumpsuit and hand in any jewelry. Cellphones and computers are prohibited.