Jailhouse Stories: Memories of a Smalltown Sheriff

In the 1950s and 1960s, Neil Haugerud served as sheriff of Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota. In Jailhouse Stories, Haugerud describes what it was like to live next to a prison, where jailbirds and jailbreaks were part of family life. We meet colorful people on both sides of the law, whose problems range from the ordinary to the offbeat to the downright bizarre. In the end, Haugerud emerges with his faith in human nature intact.

Neil Haugerud was sheriff of Fillmore County from 1959 to 1967 and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977. He now resides in Preston, Minnesota.