President Donald Trump’s administration restored federal funding to the Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) after it was removed because the department houses violent trans-identifying males with women.
Trans-identifying males are still allegedly terrorizing incarcerated women, but The Maine Wire can confirm that the funding was quietly restored in June just months after Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly bragged about defending women and revoked non-essential funding in April.
“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,” said Bondi in April
“The federal government retracted its grant terminations (see attached emails), and no federal funding was cut. The Department has not cut back on programming or services,” said MDOC Director of Government Affairs Jill O’Brien in a statement to The Maine Wire on Thursday.
After publicly touting the decision, Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stayed quiet when they restored the grant funding in June.
The Maine Wire first learned about the shock reversal on Thursday, almost nine months after funding was restored via an email from the MDOC.
The Maine Wire reached out to determine whether the women’s prison had been forced to reduce any of its programming or services for female inmates due to the loss of federal funding.
The MDOC confirmed that the funding, which took the form of federal grants, has been restored and that no programs or services were cut due to the brief grant terminations.
O’Brien provided three emails from the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), confirming that the grants that were terminated on April 7 had been restored.
The restoration of those grants appears to be a massive victory for the MDOC and Gov. Janet Mills’ (D-Maine) policy of allowing violent men to be housed with women, and a huge loss for Bondi and the Trump DOJ.
Strangely, Mills did not publicly tout the grant restoration as a victory against President Donald Trump, and the DOJ did not issue a statement explaining the decision.
The Maine Wire sent a follow-up email to the MDOC, asking if they were given a reason for the grant restoration. No reason was given in the emails provided by the MDOC. O’Brien explained that the MDOC appealed the grant cuts, and their appeal was granted.
“MDOC appealed the grant terminations, which were then retracted, as conveyed in the documents provided to you yesterday. This is all the information MDOC received,” she said.
The Maine Wire also reached out to the DOJ’s OJP, via the email address used to send the notices of grant restoration, asking for an explanation for the decision or a contact at the DOJ who would be willing to comment.
The DOJ did not respond to our inquiry.
While the MDOC continues to enjoy the benefits of federal taxpayer-funded grants, trans-identifying male murderers like Andrew Balcer continue to enjoy the radical left-wing policies that allow him to share a cell with women, where he allegedly terrorizes and assaults them.
Balcer, a 310 lb., six-foot man convicted in 2017 of murdering both his parents, took advantage of MDOC commissioner Randall Liberty and Gov. Mills’ radical trans agenda and declared himself to be a woman in 2022.
Balcer’s case appears to have prompted Bondi to revoke the grants in the first place, but the grants are back, and Balcer is still housed with women.
Last month, inmate Katie Mountain sent a letter to The Maine Wire and told her harrowing tale, claiming she was forced to share a cell and even a bed with Balcer.
According to Mountain, Balcer made repeated threatening and sexual comments to her, including a threat to murder her.
She alleged that, on one occasion, Balcer pinned her against the wall of a restroom and forced a kiss on her before she was able to get away.
Mountain said that when she spoke up and complained about Balcer, she was penalized by prison officials rather than him.
The Maine Wire reached out to the MDOC for comment on Mountain’s allegations last month, but the department never responded or denied Mountain’s story.
