A California judge has ordered Lindsay Lohan to spend 90 days in jail for violation of her probation on 2007 drug and alcohol charges.

Lohan burst into tears and sobbed on her lawyer's shoulder after Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel handed down the sentence.

Lohan was ordered to surrender at the courthouse on July 20 at 8:30 a.m. to begin her sentence.

The judge also ordered Lohan to attend a 90-day in-patient substance abuse program once she is released from jail.

Revel issued her ruling after hearing evidence Lohan violated her probation by failing to complete court-ordered alcohol education classes.

Tuesday's hearing was scheduled after the actress missed a court date in May, with the excuse she was in France and her passport had been stolen.

Since then, Lohan has been required to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, which she must continue to wear until she begins serving her jail sentence.

The bracelet issued an alert the night Lohan attended the MTV Movie Awards. Lohan denied drinking that night, and the judge told lawyers she would not consider the report when deciding if the actress violated her probation. Revel said she would only consider whether the Lohan had completed her alcohol-education classes on time.

During Tuesday's hearing, Cheryl Marshall, a co-founder of the education program, testified that Lohan missed nine classes and then made up an undisclosed number. Marshall said she did not inform the judge of Lohan's behaviour, despite the fact the judge requested that Lohan attend classes weekly.

Marshall said because she did not get a paper copy of the judge's order, she did not consider it to be active.

Lohan's latest legal troubles stem from her guilty pleas in 2007 to two misdemeanour counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 per cent, and one count of reckless driving in connection with two crashes earlier that year.

The actress spent 84 minutes in jail and was sentenced to three years' probation.

The judge obviously didn't believe Lohan's pleas during the hearing, when she stood up and told the court she had done the best she could to abide by her probation requirements.

Before issuing her ruling, Revel cited a number of incidents that showed the actress "not taking things seriously," including Lohan's statements after each crash in which she lied about being sober and about who was driving her car.

In addition to the jail sentence, Revel said Lohan must not drink any alcohol, must not operate a motor vehicle without a valid licence and insurance or with any trace of drugs or alcohol in her system, and cannot refuse to take a drug or alcohol test.

When the judge asked Lohan if she understood the conditions, she choked out a "yes" betweens sobs.

With files from The Associated Press