By Howard Packowitz

PONTIAC – A transgender prisoner is suing the state government to force the Illinois Department of Corrections to move the inmate from the Pontiac men’s prison to a woman’s facility to protect her from being raped.

Janiah Monroe, identified on the corrections department website as Andre Patterson, filed the federal lawsuit two months after another transgender prisoner, Strawberry Hampton, won a year-long legal battle and was moved to the woman’s prison at the Logan County Correctional Center in Lincoln.

Like Hampton, Monroe claimed she’s been sexually assaulted. Monroe said prisoners have also threatened her, and correctional officers subjected her to “invasive and inappropriate” pat-downs in which officers groped her.

“I have been sexually assaulted at every men’s prison that IDOC put me into, including by IDOC staff. It’s time for IDOC to recognize my gender and take responsibility for keeping me safe. As long as I’m in a men’s prison, IDOC can never protect me from sexual assault,” Monroe said in a prepared statement.

The corrections department denied her transfer request two years ago, according to a news release from her attorneys.

Monroe said she’s tried to kill herself several times. Monroe is 29 and has been in prison for the past decade.

“Guards using coercion and unnecessary force is, sadly, widespread in Illinois prisons. But trans women in men’s prisons suffer this abuse more frequently, and at times with deadly consequences. Gendered bigotry shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere, but least of all in our prisons, which are supposed to be places of law,” said Alan Mills of Uptown People’s Law Center, co-counsel on the case.

“The IDOC’s policies and practices almost guarantee that trans women will experience sexual violence inside of Illinois’ prisons, and the IDOC has continually violated Janiah’s most basic rights to be free from violence and discrimination,” said Sheila Bedi of the MacArthur Justice Center, co-counsel on the case.

“This lawsuit seeks to hold the IDOC accountable for the harm and trauma it has imposed upon Janiah. And we hope that her struggle will finally force the IDOC to implement the systemic change needed to protect all trans women in Illinois prisons,” Bedi also said.

The corrections department website said Monroe is in prison for a long list of crimes, including second-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, and attempted aggravated arson.

Her projected release date isn’t for another 35 years in 2054.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]