Sutherland was arrested early September 25, 2007 on misdemeanor drunk driving charges (his second time since another incident in 2004) after failing a field sobriety test. He was pulled over at around 1:10 a.m. in West Los Angeles, where he tested over the state's legal blood alcohol limit and later released on $25,000 bail. On December 5, 2007, he was sentenced to 48 days in jail.

On October 9, 2007 Kiefer pled no contest to the DUI charge and agreed to complete the 48 day jail sentence in L.A. County Jail, in December 2007, including Christmas and his 41st birthday. He had opted to spend 18 days in jail during 24's winter break in late December and early January and return to jail after production wrapped up. However, production had been suspended due to the Hollywood writers' strike so he instead was in jail for 48 days consecutively. Sutherland began his sentence on December 6, 2007 and was released from the jail just after Midnight on January 21, 2008. He was quoted in Pe