Tom Dart

Hon. Thomas Dart

Sheriff Tom Dart has lived a life dedicated to effecting change, protecting the unprotected and fighting for social justice. After serving the community as a prosecutor and state legislator, Sheriff Dart decided to run for Cook County Sheriff in 2006 on a promise of using this incredible platform to advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable and neglected communities among us. In the ensuing years, he has fulfilled that promise by enacting meaningful social justice reforms and has rewritten the book on what a Sheriff can accomplish. In particular, Sheriff Dart’s restorative justice vision has reduced the number of non-violent offenders detained at Cook County Jail –one of the largest jails in the nation –while spreading awareness nationally of the ongoing criminalization of mental illness. In 2017, Governing Magazine named Sheriff Dart a Public Official of the Year. TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009.Sheriff Dart and his wife Patricia live on Chicago’s South Side and are the proud parents of five children.