Sarah Palin receives pink underwear from controversial sheriff

Sarah Palin received an unlikely gift from a famous admirer over the weekend: A pair of pink women's underwear.

The underwear was from Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who met the former Alaska governor at a Tea Party rally in Phoenix on Friday.

Arpaio announced the gift on Twitter. "Just got done welcoming Sarah Palin to our County. Had a nice chat and gaver her a pair of pink underwear," he wrote.

The gift isn't entirely out of left field. Arpaio has garnered national media attention for his controversial methods of prisoner treatment, which he employs at the Maricopa County jail. Among them are restricting inmates to two meals a day, housing inmates outdoors, and requiring inmates to wear pink underwear.

In an ongoing case, a federal judge ruled in 2008 and again in 2010 that Maricopa County jails violate the civil rights of inmates.