Redmond O'Neal will move out of his California prison cell and into a drug rehabilitation centre for one year after pleading no contest to a charge of drug possession.

The 24-year-old son of actor Ryan O'Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett has been undergoing intensive drug treatment behind bars following his April arrest, when he attempted to smuggle illegal substances into another Los Angeles correctional facility while visiting a jailed pal.

But O'Neal, who was already serving time for another drug count, has been given one final chance to kick his drug habit once and for all.

He appeared in a court in Santa Clarita, California on Friday and pleaded no contest to the smuggling charge.

He was sentenced to a minimum of one year in the Impact Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center in Pasadena, California and put on three years of formal probation by Superior Court Judge Graciela Freixes.

However, if O'Neal suffers a setback in his drug battle, he could face being locked up for up to six years.