Are you kidding me on this? NBA star and DUI convict Charles Barkley has been released from jail after serving a mere three days in the pokey. Barkley entered Tent City Jail in Arizona on Friday afternoon, after holding a press conference in which he proclaimed that he was 100 percent responsible for the DUI conviction and has learned his lesson. Apparently, this apology was enough for prosecutors in the case, because Barkley was released today. He didn’t even have to wear that standard prison-issued orange jumpsuit, opting instead to wear one of his own track suits.

Charles Barkley is done with his jail sentence.

Barkley was released from Tent City Jail in Arizona just before 8:00 AM today after serving his 3 day stint for a DUI bust.

For his safety, he was housed in a separate tent from other inmates and had his meals brought to him.

[From TMZ]

So, let me get this straight. Not only did Barkley serve only three days for his crime, but he also got to wear his own clothes, be separated from the other inmates and had food brought to him? What kind of jail is this? I think even Paris Hilton had it worse in her Beverly Hills jail cell. Let’s hope Charles really is sorry and doesn’t do anything this stupid again – although if the punishment was supposed to be a deterrent, it’s not really all that bad! What exactly does a celebrity have to do to go to jail?

Retired NBA superstar Charles Barkley has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for two counts of DUI. According to the court documents, Barkley will only be required to serve five of those days if he completes an alcohol education program. Barkley was also given a $2,000 fine. He probably drops more cash than that in a single night at the strip clubs. Ah, celebrity justice.

Hope they’ve got XXXXL jumpsuits in AZ, ’cause Charles Barkley is officially going to jail.

Barkley just pleaded guilty to 2 counts of driving under the influence and pleaded “responsible” to running a stop sign for the December 31st incident in Scottsdale.

Barkley was sentenced to 10 days in jail — but will only do five if he completes an alcohol education program. Barkley was also fined $2,000.

Barkley will begin his sentence on March 21 — but it’s unclear if he will serve time in Arizona’s famed Tent City Jail, where they make the inmates wear pink.

As for the gun cops say they found in Barkley’s car on the night of the arrest — no charges were ever filed.

[From TMZ]

Since his DUI arrest, Barkley managed to keep his job on the TNT network as an NBA commentator and has apologized multiple times for the incident. In a live broadcast following the arrest, Barkley told viewers, “Clearly everybody knows I got a DUI. That’s unacceptable, 100% my fault. I screwed up, I made a mistake, I’m sorry, I apologize.” It does appear that he’s willing to accept the consequences for his stupidity- but I can’t help but wonder if he’d be getting off so easily if his name wasn’t Charles Barkley.

Charles Barkley is shown on 7/20/08 at Ante up for Africa. Credit: WENN

I’ve decided that Charles Barkley is the most honest and the most insane person I’ve heard of in a long, long time. Yesterday it was revealed that he was arrested on suspicion of DUI. There wasn’t much information at the time other than that he was pulled over at a mobile DUI checkpoint in Arizona and had his blood drawn. Now TMZ has some truly jaw-dropping details about what Barkley said to police. Most notably, that he was driving fast so he could get a beej. But that’s an excuse we’ve all used for speeding, right?

This may be the very best police report of 2008. When Charles Barkley was busted in Arizona early this morning for DUI, he told cops he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to get some oral sex.

According to the officer who wrote the report, “He told me that he ran the stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up the girl I saw get in the passenger seat.”

The officer continues: “He asked me to admit that she was ‘hot.’ He asked me, ‘You want the truth?’ When I told him I did he said, ‘I was gonna drive around the corner and get a b**w job. He then explained that she had given him a ‘b**w job’ one week earlier and said it was the best one he had ever had in his life.”

The report says when Barkley was taken to the station, he told one of the employees, “I’ll tattoo my name on your ass” if he helped “get him out of the DUI.” According to the report, “He laughed and then quickly corrected himself and said, ‘I’ll tattoo your name on my ass’ and then laughed again.”

The report also says officers “found a handgun in the vehicle” which was immediately impounded. The report doesn’t say if the handgun was legal or not, and the only thing that we know for sure was loaded…

[From TMZ]

From now on, whenever I want to bribe someone into doing something, I’m going to offer to tattoo their name on my ass. I can’t see what better incentive there is. And if I’m drunk, I’ll offer to tattoo my name on their ass, just like Barkley did.

I’m guessing Barkley was being honest – why else would he say such a thing? I doubt it’s going to win him any points with the police. There’s still no word on what his BAC was – and as Celebitchy pointed out yesterday, he’s 6’6 and has put on some weight, so it would likely take a crazy amount of alcohol to get him drunk. But it’s certainly not impossible. Barkley’s still really taking his whole, “athletes shouldn’t be role models” thing to heart, even after all this time.

Images thanks to Mavrix.

TMZ reports that 45 year-old retired NBA player Charles Barkley has been arrested and released on suspicion of DUI. The sports commentator was stopped at a mobile DUI checkpoint in Arizona this morning and was seen getting blood drawn. He was then released and took a taxi home.

There are pictures on TMZ but not much more information about it. While Barkley looks sober enough you can’t really tell from photos. He’s probably awaiting the results of the bloodwork that will determine whether he will be officially charged.

The guy is 6’6″ tall and he’s gained some weight since his professional career ended in 2000. It must take a lot to get him drunk and maybe he had some drinks that led police to suspect he was intoxicated but it’s possible he wasn’t over the legal limit of .08 in Arizona.

Barkley played professional basketball for 16 years, from 1984 to 2000. He was known for his skill and domineering personality on the court and his fights with other players. In 1993, Barkley famously said that sports stars shouldn’t be role models. He claimed that it wasn’t realistic for children to aspire to become high paid professional players and that “A million guys can dunk a basketball in jail; should they be role models?”

Since retiring, Barkley has admitted to gambling away millions of his earnings. He claims it’s not a problem for him as he has the money to waste.

Barkley has announced that he intends to run as an Independent for governor of his home state of Alabama in 2014 after he completes the seven year residency requirements for a run. If he ends up having a DUI on his record it’s not going to bode well for his campaign no matter how well known he is.

[some factual details from Wikipedia]

Charles Barkley is shown at the Stand Up 2 Cancer benefit on 9/5/08. Credit: WENN