U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi pulled non-essential federal funding from the Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) on Monday in response to the state’s decision to house a male convicted multiple murderer in a women’s prison because he declared that he is transgender.
[RELATED: Maine Man Who Murdered His Parents and Dog Moved to Women’s Prison…]
Maine’s prisons are state-run and most of their funding comes from the state budget. In 2019, Maine spent $190,489,256 on prisons which, according to the Urban Institute, amounted to the state’s seventh costliest expenditure.
According to Maine’s Department of Corrections, the U.S. Department of Justice informed them of the partial termination of funds on Monday.
“We pulled all non-essential funding from the Department of Corrections in Maine because they were allowing a man in women’s prison, a giant six-foot one, 240 pound guy who committed a double murder with a knife, stabbed his parents to death, and the family dog, and he identified as a woman, so they were letting him be housed in a female prison,” said Attorney General Bondi during an interview with Fox News Tuesday morning.
“We will pull your funding. We will protect women in prison. We will protect women in sports. We will protect women throughout this country. No more of that,” she added.
The announcement appears to be a response to a story reported by The Maine Wire in 2023, refers to Andrew T. Balcer, 26. Balcer was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2017 after he stabbed both of his parents and their family dog to death.
Balcer, a biological male, was initially sent to a men’s prison, but in 2022, the Maine DOC transferred him to a women’s prison where he now goes by the name “Andrea” and is set to remain until 2051.
Prior to murdering his parents, Balcer allegedly told them that he wanted to live as a woman and later claimed that their refusal to support the transition led him to murder them.
Though Bondi did not specify how much funding would be pulled from the Maine DOC, an on-screen banner that ran during the interview in which Bondi announced the funding freeze claimed that the department would lose over $1.5 million in federal grants.
Balcer, a large man, poses a potential danger to the women in prison with him, compromising what privacy they have and exposing them to possible sexual assault.
The threat of danger imposed on female inmates by forcing them to share their private spaces with a large, violent man could potentially violate the U.S. Constitution’s 8th Amendment, which protects citizens — including incarcerated persons — from cruel and unusual punishment.
Maine has become a primary target for the Trump administration’s enforcement activities, aimed largely at protecting women and children from radical gender ideology and discriminatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
The state’s Department of Education (MDOE) has come under multiple investigations for refusing to prevent transgender-identifying males from competing in women’s sports or using women’s locker rooms and bathrooms. The MDOE has already lost some federal funding over its obstinate refusal to comply with federal law and will continue to lose more funding until it complies.
