The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has pulled all “nonessential” funding from Maine’s prison system because the state allowed a male murderer to live in a women’s prison.
The U.S. Department of Justice notified the Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) by email Monday evening that it was terminating the funding, according to an email obtained by Bangor Daily News.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi complained on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning that some Democrat run states are not abiding with President Trump’s executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism.”
“We pulled all nonessential funding from the Department of Corrections in Maine because they were allowing a man in a women’s prison,” Bondi said. “A giant, 6-foot-1, 245 pound guy, who committed a double murder with a knife… he identified as a woman!”
Andrew Balcer, who now goes by “Andrea” Balcer, was convicted in 2018 of a double murder when he was six weeks shy of his 18th birthday. Balcer stabbed his mother and father to death, as well as the family dog.
“He identified as a woman so they were letting him be housed in a female prison,” Bondi said on Fox and Friends. “No longer. We will PULL your funding.”
She added: “We will protect women in prison, we will protect women in sports, we will protect women throughout this country.”
According to Fox, the Department of Corrections stands to lose more than $1.5 million.
The corrections department told Bangor Daily News the funds were for “three programs related to improving substance use treatment for adults in reentry, addressing the needs of incarcerated parents and their children, and probation innovations.”
“The Department is evaluating the impacts to services from these funding terminations,” the Department of Corrections said in a statement. “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.”
Balcer reportedly called 911 on Halloween in 2016 and told a dispatcher he had “snapped.” He would later tell a psychologist that he didn’t believe his parents would accept him as “a trans woman” so he killed them.
Friends and neighbors however told Maine media outlets at the time that the Balcers were very supportive of him, the Maine Wire reported.
The chilling 911 phone call Balcer made after murdering his parents was played during his trial in 2017.
According to the Maine Wire, Balcer was “jocular and manic” during the call, excitedly telling law enforcement that he had “snapped” and stabbed his mother in her sleep. He reportedly said his father came in the room because he heard his mother screaming, and so he stabbed him too.
“I stabbed the f-ck out of him,” Balcer reportedly gushed, before bursting out in laughter.
“I stabbed the dog too,” he added. “It was barking.”
He pleaded guilty in September 2018 and was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Dec. 4, 2018.
The Maine Department of Corrections allows inmates to live as the gender with which they identify after receiving a gender dysphoria diagnosis and a team of medical personnel and other staff determine it’s in the inmate’s best interest. That policy was last updated in 2023.
It took Balcer four years to complete that process.
MDOC initially classified Balcer as a male in prison documents, the Maine Wire reported.
But in September 2022, MDOC changed state records to describe Balcer as a female, and updated his booking photo.
According to the Maine Department of Corrections website, Balcer won’t be eligible for release until at least July 7, 2051.
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