July 30, 2026
City Club event description:
Sheriff Dart’s skills in management, accountability, and forward-thinking leadership was critical in the success of the Cook County Jail being released from almost 40 years of oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice’s federal consent decree, making it the only large jail to ever complete such a task.
Sheriff Dart has been a leader in reforming the criminal justice system and transforming correctional settings into more humane, trauma-informed environments. Sheriff Dart has developed a framework to identify and engage all persons detained in his custody with in custody service plans and discharge plans tailored to each person’s unique needs and goals. Sheriff Dart has instituted extensive programming at the Cook County Jail, seeking to give individuals in custody skills that help to stop the revolving door of incarceration. The Sheriff has sought out creative programming within the jail in the areas of art, chess, construction, cooking, gardening, parenting, and literacy, all of which help foster social and emotional growth for individuals in custody while they await trial. In addition, after collecting data which showed that much of the population in Cook County Jail needed mental health treatment, Sheriff Dart worked, and continues to work, with Cermak Health Services to provide individuals in custody with mental health treatment plans. Sheriff Dart has implemented Trauma-Informed Training for his staff as a tool to engage with the men and women detained in the Cook County Jail as well as their family members who come to visit at the jail…