Trump administration cuts federal funding to Maine DOC over transgender inmate housing

04/12/2025 / By Laura Harris

The Trump administration halted over $1.5 million in nonessential federal grants to Maine’s Department of Corrections (DOC) after a transgender inmate convicted of a double murder was housed in a women’s prison.
The inmate, Andrea Balcer (formerly Andrew Balcer), was sentenced to 40 years for stabbing their parents and dog in 2016. Initially listed as male, Balcer’s gender was later changed to female, resulting in a transfer to a women’s facility.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned the housing of a “six-foot-one, 245-pound” convicted murderer in a women’s prison, calling it a violation of federal policy under Trump’s administration.
The Maine DOC acknowledged the funding termination but claimed no direct link to Balcer’s case, stating the grants supported reentry programs and probation innovations.

The Trump administration has halted nonessential federal funding to Maine’s Department of Corrections (DOC) following controversy over a transgender inmate, a convicted double murderer, being housed in a women’s prison facility.

In a live interview with Fox News’ program “Fox & Friends” on April 8, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed that Maine’s DOC lost over $1.5 million in federal grants following reports that a transgender inmate was being housed in a women’s prison. (Related: USDA pauses federal funding for Maine educational programs over transgender athlete policies.)

Bondi did not specifically name the transgender, but WMTW identified the inmate in question as Andrea Balcer (formerly Andrew Balcer), who was sentenced to 40 years in 2018 for the brutal 2016 stabbing deaths of his parents and their dog in their Waldo County home.

Initially listed as male in DOC records, Balcer’s gender designation was later changed to female, resulting in a transfer to the Maine Correctional Center’s Women’s Center, which primarily houses inmates serving sentences of less than five years. This is in response to Balcer’s grandfather, who revealed during a 2017 court hearing that the inmate preferred to be called “Andrea” and to use female pronouns.

Bondi claimed that this is a clear violation of federal policy under the Trump administration, so federal cuts are necessary.

“We pulled all nonessential funding from the Department of Corrections (DOC) in Maine because they were allowing a man in a women’s prison. A giant, six-foot-one, 245-pound guy who committed a double murder with a knife – he 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,” Bondi said. “No longer. 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.”

Maine DOC remains in denial about the real reason for its federal funding termination

The Maine DOC confirmed receiving the notice from the U.S. Department of Justice‘s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) terminating key federal grants, effective immediately, but remains in denial about the termination due to housing of a transgender inmate in women’s facility.

According to the Maine DOC, the revoked grants supported substance use disorder treatment for adults reentering society, programs for incarcerated parents and their children and innovations in probation under the Smart Probation Program.

“The department is evaluating the impacts to services from these funding terminations,” the Maine DOC said in a press release. “While the department is aware of related public statements by the United States Attorney General, the notice is the only communication that has been received by the department.”

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Watch the video below where Trump publicly calls out the Maine governor for not complying with federal orders of protecting women’s sports.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.