here in florida the maximum jail sentence is a year less a day (364), and you are kept locally. any sentence one year or greater is a prison sentence, and you get sent to a prison facility elsewhere.
this applies to felonies. the maximum sentence for a first degree misdemeanor is a year in the county jail (no chance of prison), so even if you commit several misdemeanors and they run your sentence consecutive, you would just do 364 followed by 364 followed by 364 etc. in the county jail. i don't believe you can be sent to prison for a series of misdemeanors.
as for paris, who knows? it might have something to do with california, or the crimes she was on probation for, or the fact that there is no good "woman's facility" at the county jail so they had to put her into some local "woman's prison" to serve her sentence. most likely anybody else that had to do 20 something days in jail for a violation of probation would have just reported to the county jail (if, in fact, that isn't where paris went).