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A 50-year-old former top corrections officer for the Marine Corps took on a new challenge Monday when he became the administrator of the McHenry County Jail.

William Maire, of Lake Villa, retired from the Corps as a major in 1984 after entering as a private in 1961. He ran brigs with a prisoner population ranging from 120 to 300 at Camp LeJeune, N.C., before becoming head of all corrections facilities for the Marines in 1970, he said.

Maire was chief of security for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services from 1984 to 1992, when he retired.

Maire was hired by Sheriff William Mullen to replace John Harrison, 57, who left Friday after about 18 months in the job.