A male convicted killer has been allowed to remain at a women’s prison in Illinois despite disturbing allegations that he raped a female inmate. Department of Corrections officials have attempted to have Andre Patterson returned to a men’s prison, but have been unsuccessful due to his “transgender” identity and support from activist groups.
Patterson, also known as Janiah Monroe, was first transferred from a men’s detention center to the Logan Correctional Center for women in April of 2019 as a result of litigation backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois. Court documents reveal that Monroe continues to be detained at Logan, a women’s correctional facility, despite efforts by authorities at the Illinois Department of Corrections to remove him.
In June of 2019, just two months after being transferred into Logan, a woman who was made to share a housing unit with Monroe filed a Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) report alleging that he had raped her. Under the protection of anonymity, “Jane Doe” also accused prison officials of attempting to coerce her to lie about her ordeal, which she would later reveal the details of in a February 2020 lawsuit.
“The transfer of transgender inmates from male to female prisons has been a contentious policy within IDOC,” stated attorneys for the alleged victim. “In an attempt to justify the transfers … IDOC employees covered up the sexual assault of Plaintiff and tried to falsely classify it as consensual, to keep it from being considered a PREA violation.”
The lawsuit filed by the anonymous female inmate accused Monroe, who “identifies as female, but still has male genitalia” was moved into the plaintiff’s housing unit on June 18, 2019, and immediately began “express(ing) an interest” in Doe.
“Plaintiff was terrified of this inmate as the inmate was much bigger and stronger than Plaintiff,” the lawsuit stated. “Plaintiff had also heard that this inmate had assaulted prior cellmates and had been convicted of murder.”
After the female inmate reported the sexual assault, she was transferred to the prison’s Health Care Unit (HCU), and was taken to an outside hospital for a “rape kit” examination. According to the 2020 lawsuit, she was interviewed by prison officials, who “covered up the sexual assault” and tried to “falsely classify it as consensual, to keep it from being considered a PREA violation.”
A supervisory officer named in the lawsuit as Todd Sexton, told the woman that he did not believe she had been raped, and coerced her into providing a statement in which she retracted the allegation. Attorneys defending the victim argue that she “suffered and continues to suffer physical and psychological injuries, pain, severe mental distress, anguish, and humiliation.”
The victim was also punished by having her privileges removed for two months, including the ability to use her phone, as well as the prison’s gym. She was then relocated about 40 miles away to the Decatur Correctional Center.
The victim’s lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice by Judge Shig Yasunaga in September 2022.
Patterson has a long history of violence recorded since his teenage years. In 2006, he murdered his cellmate with his bare hands after the two men had been detained together for a period of just three days. At the age of 17, Monroe strangled to death Kimani Muhammad, then 31, in Cook County jail.
In 2019, after beginning to identify as transgender, Patterson received support from the Uptown People’s Law Center, MacArthur Justice Center, and ACLU to sue the state for transfer to a women’s prison. The suit has been ongoing for six years, but Patterson was transferred shortly after it was filed.
Court documents viewed by Reduxx include a continued exchange between Patterson’s attorneys and prison officials regarding his placement in a women’s prison. In the records, Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) officials argued for Patterson’s removal from the female estate. In recordings of the court proceedings, Patterson’s attorneys, while referring to him with feminine pronouns, reveal that the attempted move was prevented due to a court-ordered stay on the basis that he wanted to undergo “gender-affirming” genital surgery.
The IDOC was required to provide Patterson’s attorneys with a 14-day advance notice and legally stated reason for any request to remove him from Logan Correctional Center.
However, Patterson himself had opted out of the requested surgeries, had stopped taking feminizing hormones, and had also agreed to be transferred back to a men’s prison, a situation which presented challenges for his lawyers in court.
Despite Patterson’s voluntary agreement to move back to a men’s prison, he is still detained with women. IDOC records also show that he is catalogued under his birth name and sex.
“Ms. Monroe does not want to be transferred [to a male prison] and wants to continue her gender-affirming treatment,” attorney Danielle Berkowsky said during an October 2024 hearing, contradicting Patterson’s own previous declaration.
“We know her position on ‘gender-affirming care’ has changed multiple times, recently. Not necessarily because her identity has changed, or not because she’s not ‘trans,’ but because of conditions and how things have been at Logan. It seems that there have been some outcries made in the midst of crisis which don’t seem to be representative of treatments that she needs or wants… Her changing position tells us that her safety is on the line.”
The attorney for the IDOC, Lisa Cook, with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, stated that prison officials had hoped to remove Monroe from Logan Correctional Facility that same week.
“I don’t think the stay currently makes sense… [Monroe] has changed [his] mind, and then changed [his] mind back again… The Department is seeking to transfer [him], and are planning to move [him]… the [previous] judge did say they have to give notice before transferring,” said Cook.
However, the IDOC’s position was challenged by the presiding judge, who argued that the rationale for prison officials’ requirement to “provide a reason” for removing the convicted male killer from the women’s prison was designated in order to “give an opportunity for [Monroe] to challenge the reason before the transfer would take place.”
Patterson’s attorneys noted that the stated explanation given by the IDOC included that he had been “stopping hormones” and “wanting to return” to a men’s prison, but insisted that “both of those things are now not true.”
Patterson is serving time for multiple violent felonies, including murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault, with a criminal record dating back to 2005. His projected parole date is 2050, and his earliest discharge date is listed within DOC records as September 2053.
Patterson is not the only trans-identified male currently serving his sentence at the Logan women’s prison.
Michelle Blessent, born James, is currently being housed at the facility after being found guilty of raping his two children. As previously reported by Reduxx, Blessent, 35, was initially arrested in April of 2023 in a case which included five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13.
But on November 15 of that year, three more charges were applied, including one additional count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13, one count of grooming, and one count of exploitation of a child. In a public notice posted to their official Facebook, the Bloomington Police Department confirmed that the new charges were related to the original victim. During the course of the trial, a second young victim under the age of the 13 was named. Both of the victims are reported to be Blessent’s biological children – a boy and a girl.
On June 26 of 2024, Blessent was sentenced to 42 years for each of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13, as well as three years for a count of grooming. The sentences will run consecutively, totaling 87 years. Under Illinois law, Blessent must serve at least 85% of the time for the counts of sexual assault, meaning he will not be eligible for parole until 2095, at which point he would be 106 years of age.
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