Maine loses federal funds for housing man in women’s prison

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday said the Justice Department had canceled all non-essential funding to the Maine Department of Corrections. Bondi told Fox News she pulled funding because Maine housed a violent male inmate in a women’s prison. A graphic run during the interview said Maine would lose more than $1.5 million in federal grants.

The termination notice sent to Maine officials did not specifically mention the inmate. The Department of Justice said the cut grants no longer aided government priorities.

The news comes days after the Justice Department and Education Department said they were jointly creating a Title IX task force to investigate complaints about gender ideology.

Who is the inmate Bondi mentioned? Andrew Balcer, a man who identifies as a woman and uses the name Andrea, matches Bondi’s description. In 2018, he was convicted of stabbing both his parents to death two years earlier. Balcer was sentenced to 40 years in prison and is currently held in the Women’s Center of the Maine Correctional Department, according to its records. He stands over 6 feet tall and weighs more than 300 pounds, according to the records. 

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on the new Title IX task force.