Trump admin warns states to comply with housing prisoners by their biological sex or face funding cutoff
FIRST ON FOX: A Trump administration official confirmed Thursday that states failing to comply with federal orders to house inmates based on their biological sex can expect “imminent changes” – and Maine “will not be the last” state to have prison funds slashed.
While the Trump administration‘s decision to pull federal funding from Maine’s Department of Corrections due to a transgender inmate being housed in a women’s facility is not an isolated case, similar situations involving transgender inmates in female facilities have occurred across the country.
In addition to Maine, California, New York, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington state allow transgender people to be housed in jail and prison facilities that align with their gender identity. Most provide transgender treatments on the taxpayer dime or through other sources of state funding, though it may vary from prison to prison. Following a consent decree, Colorado is the only state to have housing facilities specific for transgender people.
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The official, who declined to be identified, explained that while much of prison funding is handled at the state level, states still must comply with their own versions of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which is often modeled after federal standards. As federal changes to those regulations are expected, current PREA guidelines discourage housing inmates in isolation. That, the spokesperson said, has led some states to feel obligated to house transgender women in female facilities, even if they might prefer to create separate spaces.
“I think that that’s a state call. But, right now, states are really not encouraged to make that call,” the official said. “They’re encouraged to put those men with women. So, I think some states will just put these men dressed as women, with the men. Some of them will put them in some sort of separate space. I have no opinion on which is better.”
Prior to Trump’s executive order prohibiting trans procedures and treatments in federal prisons, federal funding was allotted to some Bureau of Prisons facilities to cover cosmetic procedures and treatments that were considered “gender-affirming” for incarcerated men – but not provided to women – such as laser hair removal and other feminine procedures. Guidelines for such services were first earmarked under the Obama administration’s second term, and California was the first state to establish policies granting transgender surgeries to state prison inmates in 2017.
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The administration argues this created a clear case of sex-based discrimination, as in the case of Maine, where women in prison were not afforded similar access to those services.
In January, a transgender woman named Andrea Balcer, 24, was moved from the Maine State Prison to the women’s section of the Maine Correctional Institute. Balcer was convicted in 2018 of stabbing both parents to death, along with the family dog, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison for a crime that was attributed to struggles with gender identity.
“Under Attorney General Bondi, the Department of Justice is committed to keeping Americans safe and using taxpayer money to ruthlessly and efficiently go after criminals,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement Thursday. “The Department will no longer fund organizations that promote the invasion of women’s spaces by men and urges states to use commonsense to keep women and girls safe.”
Another transgender inmate in Maine – convicted of murdering a woman who was found tied between two trees with her throat and wrists slit – was identified by Fox News Digital through court documents as Walter William Moore. Moore goes by “Nikki,” according to the documents, and complained that Maine corrections weren’t doing enough to facilitate his gender transition.
In January, Moore, who is currently housed in a male facility, filed a complaint against Maine Department of Corrections employees, alleging assault, theft of thousands of dollars in personal property, and denial of requested gender transition treatments. In court testimony, Moore frequently referenced “Nikki,” claiming prison wardens promised gender reassignment surgery, feminine cosmetics, and transfer to a women’s facility. Moore also described a regimen of daily cross-sex hormone treatments and Vitamin B-12 injections.
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“Maine, of course, is just blatantly violating the rights of women. And the president has made a note that Maine has no intention to change – they have a governor who is particularly intransigent, and so Maine was first, but Maine will not be last,” the White House spokesperson said. “There will be no federal funding of the abuse of women by the Department of Justice.”
As of February, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) houses 2,198 transgender inmates, including 22 transgender women currently serving sentences in women’s facilities. This figure does not account for state-level facilities, which may also receive federal funding.
The Trump administration is also in court battling the president’s executive mandate to strip federal prisons of gender-transition treatments and housing preferences.
In February, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth – a Reagan-appointed judge – temporarily blocked the transfer of three transgender women to men’s prisons, citing concerns over their safety. Later that month, another judge issued a restraining order preventing the transfer of a transgender woman from a women’s prison to a men’s facility. In March, Lamberth ordered the BOP to return two transgender inmates to women’s facilities and continue their hormone therapy treatments.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.