Patrick Firman, , spent decades working in Chicago-area jails as a corrections officer and supervisor before making his way to the Mile High City.
His work, however, came in jails much smaller than Denver’s and in mostly white, more affluent and suburban communities.
Firman, 50, began his career in law enforcement as a campus security officer at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill., before moving to the jail at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, .
He served in Lake County for roughly two decades, including from 2000 to 2009 as deputy chief and chief of corrections.
“I thought he did a good job for me,” Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran Jr. said Thursday.
Curran called Firman “a high-integrity guy” and said he rose in the ranks during his tenure without eliciting complaints. He promoted inmate programs along the way, Curran said, specifically faith-based enrichment options for offenders.
“He is probably a good choice,” Curran said of Firman’s new job.
In 2009, Firman moved to the neighboring and significantly smaller McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. He served there as deputy chief of corrections until his position was eliminated after a new sheriff, Bill Prim, was elected in November 2014.
“It was not a personnel-related decision,” Prim said.
Prim said he brought in a new jail chief from outside the department that he “felt very comfortable with.”
“I’m sorry to see him go (and) moving across the country,” said Gurnee, Ill., Police Chief Kevin Woodside, who worked with Firman on law enforcement issues in Lake County. “He’s just a very intelligent, passionate man who has a passion for corrections.”
In October 2014, Firman was tapped to run as undersheriff for Jason Patt, a Republican military veteran who was challenging Mark Curran’s incumbent position. Patt lost that election.
“I think very highly of Patrick, which is obviously why I picked him to be my undersheriff,” Patt said. “He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever met in my life.”
Outside of suburban Chicago jails, Firman served as vice president of the board of directors for the Illinois Correctional Association. In 2011, he was a member of an independent commission reviewing sexual harassment complaints in the sheriff’s office in Winnebago County, Ill., according to The Rockford Register Star.
Firman has also lectured on corrections issues as an adjunct professor at the College of Lake County and Trinity International University.
