As Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman and Full House actress Lori Loughlin face jail time for their roles in the US College admissions cheating scandal, here’s a refresher of other famous faces who have done a stretch behind bars

Robert Downey Jr.

Before he was Iron Man, the actor was stopped by police in 1996 driving naked down Sunset Boulevard in possession of cocaine, heroin and a gun. Probation violations from that conviction saw him sentenced to three years in prison in 1999. He was released on bail after one year and arrested twice more but avoided jail time.

Tommy Lee

In 1998, the Motley Crüe drummer pleaded no contest to a felony charge stemming from an assault on then-wife Pamela Anderson. He served four months of a six-month sentence in the Los Angeles County Jail.

After 1998, Tommy Lee was back in court in 2000 for violating of his parole – drinking alcohol. Photo: Getty

Mark Wahlberg

When Wahlberg was 16 in 1998, the actor hit a man in the head with a stick – and punched another man while avoiding police – after trying to steal beer from a store near his family’s home in Dorchester, near Boston. He was convicted of assault and served 45 days of a three-month sentence.

Sean Penn

In 1987, the actor and director, already on probation from two prior assaults, was sentenced to 60 days in the Los Angeles County jail for reckless driving and punching an extra on the set of his film Colors. He served 33 days.

Sean Penn leaves jail after serving about half his sentence. Photo: Getty

Christian Slater

The star spent three months in prison after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend and a police officer while intoxicated in 1997.  “When you’re going down that path, you either kill yourself, or you’re forced to take time out,” he later told Details.

Paris Hilton

Life got complicated for The Simple Life star in 2007 when she was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation by driving with a suspended licence. She served 23 days. “I’m glad it happened in a way because this really changed my life forever,” she told interviewer Larry King.

Heiress Paris Hilton created a media frenzy around her arrest and subsequent court appearances. Photo: Getty

Lil’ Kim

The actress and rapper served 10 months after she was found to have lied to a grand jury to protect friends involved in a 2001 shooting that took place outside a Manhattan radio station.

Kiefer Sutherland

In 2007, the 24 actor served 48 days in the Glendale City Jail after being arrested for drink driving while still on probation for a 2004 drink driving conviction. “The first thing you lose when you walk through those doors is your dignity,” he told Rolling Stone of his stint.

Tim Allen

The Home Improvement star was arrested in 1978 at an airport in Michigan for possession of cocaine. He plead guilty to drug trafficking and spent two years and four months in prison in Minnesota. “I was able … refocus my life on setting and achieving goals,” he said in an interview with The Washington Times.

Tim Allen has also found himself on the wrong side of the law. Photo: Getty

Lauryn Hill

In 2013, Grammy-award winning singer Lauryn Hill served three months in a low-security facility in Connecticut, for failure to pay taxes on about $US1 million in earnings. On the day she walked free she released a new song called Consumerism on Twitter.

Wesley Snipes

The White Man Can’t Jump star was convicted in April 2008 of three misdemeanour counts of failure to file income taxes. After two years of unsuccessful appeals, he served time in Pennsylvania from December 2010 until April 2013.

Martha Stewart

The domestic mogul was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements related to insider trading charges and went to a federal women’s prison in West Virginia in 2004. She served five months in prison and five months on house arrest. “This was a test,” she later told Oprah Winfrey. “I kept my head up.”

Martha Stewart had a loyal band of supporters behind her. Photo: Getty

Lindsay Lohan

Between 2007 and 2012, the Mean Girls actress was in and out of jail –sometimes for just hours at a time – for probation violations on drug and driving offences. In 2010 she served 14 days of a 90-day jail sentence. “I felt utter shock,” she told Piers Morgan. “I cried for four days straight.”