According to a police official, Kiefer Sutherland was freed from jail after spending 48 days for drunk driving.

Officer John Balian said the actor was led out a rear door and into a waiting car around 12:05 a.m. to avoid the media outside the Glendale jail’s main entrance.

Sutherland was wearing a shirt and pants when he left the facility, according to police officer John Balian, who said, “(Kiefer) looked like he was glad to be out.”

Sutherland, 41, pleaded no contest to drunk driving in October. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison as well as 18 days in prison for breaking his probation following an impaired-driving incident in 2004.

According to Balian, Sutherland – the star of Fox television’s thriller “24” – has spent his term washing linens, pillows, and blankets on laundry duty.

The celebrity had his own cell and ate alone.

“He was very humble, never complained,” stated Balian. “He didn’t give us any problems at all.”

Sutherland will serve five years of probation, an 18-month alcohol education program, and six months of weekly therapy sessions.

Sutherland released a statement after submitting his plea last autumn, saying he was “very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I’m deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers.”

He was granted his request to do his sentence at the local jail in Glendale, rather than the overcrowded county jail in downtown Los Angeles. He couldn’t get any time off his sentence for good behavior or early release due to congestion as a trade-off.

Sutherland, the son of actor Donald Sutherland, earned an Emmy Award for his role as terrorist-fighting secret agent Jack Bauer last year.

Last year, the program drew 13.5 million viewers on average, and it will return to Fox this month for its seventh season.