Can someone please explain to me why Paris Hilton is famous?

I tend not to take interest in celebrity gossip, but thanks to my husband and podcasts of The Best Week Ever, my serene bubble of ignorance has been penetrated. When Paris Hilton kept showing up in the news I finally had to ask: "who is she and why is she famous?". To which Keith replied: "well... (insert thoughtful, chin-rubbing expression here)". The answer he eventually came up with was something along the lines that she is famous because she's super rich and she parties a lot. (Insert my ponderous furrowed brow here) "Uh huh..." I still didn't get it.

So now she's famous not only for the rich girl, show your drunken nakedness on Youtube stuff, but also because she's a criminal. This is where I start to get interested. Not the criminal part, lots of celebs are criminals and drug addicts, and what have you. It's the part about her serving FIVE days of her 45 day sentence that piqued my interest. Not only that, but she was in some special celebrity part of the jail for those five days. AND, she's finishing out her sentence in a mansion. Jail time in a mansion. I hate to break it to the courts, but I don't think that's punishment. Somehow I doubt your typical, average income drunk driver who breaks parole (twice) would ever get such a leniant sentence. (Jeffrey can correct me here if I'm wrong -- or at least he can in a year or two).

Okay, here's an idea. The California jails are overcrowded right? So how 'bout we send Paris home as planned, and to actually make it a punishment for her, we could send, say, 15-20 other inmates with her. Based on the way Paris interacts with her dog I think this would truly be severe punishment for everyone involved.