The Public Interest Law Society and The Office of Career Services present “The Future of Criminal Justice Reform” with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart

Since becoming Cook County Sheriff in 2006, Sheriff Tom Dart has introduced sweeping changes at the Cook County Jail—the nation’s largest single site jail—aggressively re-structured the Sheriff’s Police force, and improved operations of the Court Services Department. A former prosecutor and state legislator, he has used his diverse background to bring a unique approach to each of those efforts at the Sheriff’s Department.

At the Cook County Department of Corrections, the Sheriff oversees a population of over 12,000 that includes inmates both housed on-site and ordered to alternative programs such as electronic monitoring. There are approximately 2,500–3,000 people with diagnosed mental illness housed in the jail on any given day, making it the largest mental health facility in the country. In 2013, he launched the Office of Mental Health Policy & Advocacy, which operates a 24-hour Care Line for mentally ill ex-inmates and families of current mentally ill inmates, while screening all pre-bond detainees for mental illness.

In recent years, Sheriff Dart has increasingly focused his attention on the plight of Cook County’s most impoverished suburbs. As suburban police departments increasingly cut budget and staff despite upticks crime and narcotics activity in their communities, the Sheriff has invested resources to pick up the slack and ensure all Cook County citizens receive a proper level of police protection. Sheriff Dart also reformed the way Sheriff’s Police handle prostitution arrests – steering prostitutes toward rehabilitative services through the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Program rather than jail. 

In 2009, Time magazine named Sheriff Dart one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He was a Fall 2015 Resident Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

Sheriff Dart, a Chicago native, graduated from Providence College. He earned his law degree from Loyola University of Chicago. He and his wife Patricia live on Chicago’s South Side with their five young children.

Soul Food Provided.