A trans-identified male who pled guilty to second-degree murder of his former cellmate has filed multiple lawsuits against officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), as well as the state’s governor, seeking over $1 billion in compensation for “medical neglect.” Andre Cashmere Patterson, also known as Janiah Monroe, is also seeking a reduction in his sentence.
Despite being recorded under his birth name and sex within the IDOC records, Patterson is currently housed in a women’s prison. His transfer to Logan Correctional Center was secured in 2019 after his legal challenge, filed by Chicago-based legal group the Uptown People’s Law Center, was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU).
Within months of his transfer to Logan, Patterson was accused of raping a female inmate. In June of 2019, a woman who was made to share a housing unit with Patterson 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 coach her to lie about her ordeal.
While multiple allegations of sexual misconduct were mentioned in the court case, Patterson remains in the women’s prison due to a court-ordered stay – though attempts have been made by IDOC authorities to have him transferred back to a men’s facility. However, Patterson has proven to be a vexatious litigant who actively files legal claims contending that he is the victim of discrimination.
At least ten legal complaints have been filed by or on behalf of Patterson since 2017, of which seven remain open, and three were filed within the past two months.
According to one of these recent legal complaints, filed on May 14, Patterson names as defendants Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, director of the IDOC Latoya Hughes, IDOC Chief of Women and Family Services Division Melinda Eddy, several prison wardens, and the state of Illinois.
Notably, governor Pritzker – who is a vocal trans activist known for introducing gender identity measures into legislature, has, according to Patterson, sent staff to visit Logan Correctional Center.
In one complaint, Patterson alleges that he “has written to governor Pritzker several times, and spoken with his staff on tour of the facility.”
Patterson was sentenced to a total of 73 years for a combination of separate convictions, including multiple accounts of aggravated battery, attempted murder, attempted arson, and a guilty plea for second-degree murder in the killing of his former cellmate in 2006 while in a men’s prison. Patterson, after being presented in court with DNA evidence linking him to the killing, pled guilty to strangling to death 31-year-old Kimani Muhammad at Cook County Jail.
His recent spate of lawsuits contest the length of his combined sentences and argue that he ought to have been released more than ten years ago, in 2014, for time already served in prison. Patterson claims to be a victim of “insufficient and defective procedures,” which have caused him “atypical and significant hardship.”
Patterson has named correctional officers, prison-affiliated doctors, current wardens and former prison directors, the head of the IDOC, and billionaire governor J. B. Pritzker in a series of lawsuits.
Patterson also has demanded financial compensation to the tune of $1.1 billion, alleging his 8th amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment have been violated, and, that as a man who claims to be a transgender woman, he has a disability which requires special protections.
According to one of the several claims, Patterson argues that governor Pritzker and IDOC authorities “have been deliberately indifferent to [his] serious medical and mental health needs,” which he says violates a “constitutional duty” to provide him with mental health care.
Perhaps bizarrely, governor Pritzker, a wealthy billionaire who routinely champions the belief in “gender identity” and who has used his political position to enshrine the belief into law, has not mentioned the legal complaints against him by Patterson, nor has he advocated for his clemency.
The Pritzker family has an estimated net worth of over $43 billion, of which a large portion is related to real estate and the Hyatt Hotel chain. Governor Pritzker’s cousin, a trans-identified male formerly known as James Pritzker, but who calls himself “Jennifer,” has donated millions to promote gender ideology, both to universities and to hospitals, and has been described as “the first transgender billionaire.”
One of governor Pritzker’s most significant contributions to gender identity policies in state legislature was the passage of a 2023 law which allows residents to change their recorded sex on demand. Within the law, a discount was provided for convicted criminals who had been either released on parole or discharged from prison.
Within his legal complaints, Patterson has admitted that he has regularly been placed in segregation while at Logan, separated from female inmates. Though segregation is reserved as a punishment for inmates who act out, Patterson suggests that he is being discriminated against and is inappropriately being treated like a “predator.” He claims this punitive measure has caused him to attempt suicide more than 30 times.
Among his several demands, Patterson has requested to be transferred to a residential treatment unit (RTU), in addition to “compensatory damages” totaling $1.1 billion. The enormous sum, Patterson implies, should be at the cost of taxpayers and presumably Pritzker himself.
“Defendants were and are aware of the Plaintiff’s suicidal tendencies when isolated. Petitioner has informed all Defendants that placement on Housing Unit 15 triggered Plaintiff to become suicidal, and that Plaintiff would kill herself if placed back in Housing Unit 15. Plaintiff states that all Defendants ignored this declaration and continued to place Plaintiff in Housing Unit 15 despite Plaintiff’s constant attempting to kill herself,” one of Patterson’s complaints reads.
He goes on to claim that his placement in segregation constitutes discrimination on the basis of gender identity: “[the] lack of adequate treatment was and is deliberate and intentional and filled with and or performed with malicious intent where all defendants are discriminating against plaintiff because she is a trans female and even labeled her as a predator without any justification.”
He adds that he believes he should be “immune from such discriminatory practices and afforded even greater protection” on the basis of legislation designed to protect inmates with physical and mental disabilities.
However, Patterson’s claims of victimhood conflict with statements made by female inmates at Logan. Reduxx has spoken exclusively with one woman, under the condition of anonymity, who has stated on the record that he has “sexually harassed multiple women” and he “makes a joke of the fact” that he hasn’t been required to take feminizing hormone supplements.
“He has sexually assaulted quite a few different women,” said Holly, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.
“The facility sweeps it under the rug. They say it’s unfounded. He has hit many women. He has been caught having sex on the yard so many times and has been placed in segregation (restrictive housing).”
Holly added that she had also seen Patterson acting out when she was confined in close quarters with him. “When I was in seg [sic] he threatened me in front of the [guards] and nothing was done about it. When he wants something he just threatens [prison staff] and gets it. He flashes his penis at everyone, me included, which is a PREA [violation], but a PREA is denied when you try to file.”
“it is scary knowing that a man can put his hands on you and not have any repercussions other than going to seg,” Holly said.
As Reduxx reported earlier this month, IDOC officials have repeatedly attempted to have Patterson returned to a men’s prison – efforts that have been stonewalled by the Illinois court system.
During a lawsuit filed anonymously by a female inmate who filed a PREA complaint against Patterson, alleging he had raped her within months of being transferred into Logan, legal counsel for “Jane Doe” mentioned that several women had stated they were sexually violated by Patterson.
While discussing the rape allegation in court, attorney Louis Meyer stated that “the individual that assaulted the plaintiff here, who as I said is a transgender inmate… there have been multiple allegations against this inmate for similar sexual assaults.” Meyer was seeking to obtain records regarding Patterson’s behavior while incarcerated in order to substantiate the woman’s allegations of sexual abuse, but was denied access to the information by the court.
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