Lost actress Michelle Rodriguez served just about 4 1/2 hours of her 60-day jail sentence for violating probation by driving drunk ... before being set free.

Los Angeles authorities gave prison overcrowding as the reason she was released, TV.com reported.

Rodriguez must still perform 30 days of community service, while her probation was pushed to conclude in 2009 instead of 2007.

She was on probation for a drunk-driving charge in LA in 2004 when she was arrested in December 2005 also for driving under the influence.

Last week, when Rodriguez was about to begin her sentence, she told reporters that she would do her time and leave the country for France, adding that she would never return to the United States.