The Law: The Sheriff Behind Bars

Dressed in a drab orange jumpsuit and rubber shower sandals, the trim, boyish-looking prisoner at the San Mateo, Calif., jail last week behaved pretty much like any other convict. He watched television through the bars, did occasional push-ups on his cell floor, read some books. The inmate was hardly typical, however. He was Richard Hongisto, 40, sheriff of San Francisco County, playing Robin Hood rather than sheriff of Nottingham, and serving five days for contempt of court. It was, as far as anyone could determine, the first time in California history an incumbent...