DOJ investigates California, Maine for housing male inmates in women's prisons

The Trump administration is investigating whether the practice of housing trans-identified males in women's prisons in Maine and California, despite concerns about sexual assault and harassment, violates the constitutional rights of incarcerated women.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would investigate whether the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County, the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County and the Maine Correctional Center in Windham violated the rights of female inmates.

“Keeping men out of women’s prisons is not only common sense — it’s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. “The Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.”

In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act. The bill enables those who identify as the opposite sex, non-binary or intersex to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity. 

As the DOJ noted, men charged with sex crimes and who have intact genitals who self-identify as female can request a transfer to a women’s prison. The federal agency says it has seen reports “of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women’s prison.”

The DOJ is investigating if California deprived female prisoners of their right to freedom of speech and religion under the First Amendment. During its investigation, the federal agency will also determine whether female inmates were deprived of the protections guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment — which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment — and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson told The Christian Post that it "is committed to providing a safe, humane, respectful and rehabilitative environment for all incarcerated people, enforcing a zero-tolerance policy as mandated by the federal legal requirements known as the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).”

“Any suggestion that all transgender women be assigned to men’s institutions as a matter of policy is a suggestion to violate federal law," a CDCR spokesperson added. 

The Maine Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment. 

In Maine, the Justice Department said that its investigation is related to allegations that the state allowed a male inmate to remain housed in a women’s prison despite complaints that the inmate had assaulted and harassed several female inmates.

“Incarcerated individuals can be particularly susceptible to having their rights violated,” Andrew B. Benson, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine, said, as quoted in the DOJ announcement.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Maine citizens, no matter where they live, and will work with our colleagues in the Civil Rights Division to ensure that this vulnerable population is protected from harm while housed in state custody.”

The DOJ did not include the name of the male accused of assaulting female inmates. 

Andrew Balcer, who identifies as a woman named Andrea and is incarcerated at a facility for women in Maine, has been accused of physically and verbally abusing the female inmates at the facility.

In December 2018, Balcer was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murdering his parents and the family dog when he was a teenager. He would later claim that his parents’ refusal to accept his gender identity is one of the reasons why he killed them.