The Justice Department launched a probe Thursday into multiple women\u2019s prisons across California and Maine, where transgender-identifying men have been accused of rape and making other sexual advances toward female inmates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The investigation from the Justice Department will look at whether the states violated the constitutional rights of the imprisoned women with their policies of allowing men to be placed in women\u2019s prisons. One of the prisons under scrutiny is the Central California Women\u2019s Facility in Madera County, where a man who served time at the facility was charged with raping a female inmate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cKeeping men out of women\u2019s prisons is not only common sense \u2013 it\u2019s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,\u201d said Attorney General Pam Bondi. \u201cThe Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n At the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, a 27-year-old man named Andrew Balcer, <\/span>serving<\/span><\/a> 40 years for murdering his parents, is currently housed at the women\u2019s unit. State <\/span>records<\/span><\/a> list him as \u201cfemale\u201d and standing 6\u20191\u2019\u2019 tall and 310 pounds. The man has been accused of forcibly kissing incarcerated women and offering to impregnate them, <\/span>according<\/span><\/a> to the Sun Journal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Maine Government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a case out of Madera County, California, a 53-year-old man named Tremaine Carroll was charged with rape after he was placed at the Central California Women\u2019s Facility. A fellow inmate was found to be pregnant, and two other women also accused him of rape.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAfter his first cellmate became pregnant and was moved to Los Angeles, two other cellmates of his had complained that he had raped them, so we have filed rape charges against this inmate,\u201d <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> District Attorney Sally Moreno in December 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n The case is still working its way through the court system, but court officials have mandated that female pronouns be used for Carroll. Court records indicate that Tremaine has had a number of different lawyers and is in the process of getting a new lawyer appointed by the county from an outside legal firm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Thanks to a law sponsored by far-Left state Senator Scott Wiener and <\/span>signed<\/span><\/a> by Governor Gavin Newsom, at least 45 males who identify as transgender have been <\/span>transferred<\/span><\/a> into female prisons since the law was implemented in September 2020. Last year, state Democrats rejected a proposal to keep male sex criminals out of female prisons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia\u2019s Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act has provided none of these qualities to the female inmates of state prisons who have been forced to share space with biological men who are violent felons,\u201d said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. \u201cOur Constitution protects women from having their civil rights violated by harmful state legislation wrapped in the language of \u2018equity\u2019 and \u2018progress.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County is also being scrutinized.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDespite the Department of Justice\u2019s claims, this is yet another politically motivated, predetermined investigation designed to target states that stand up to the Trump Administration and its abuses,\u201d <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her office will ensure that women are protected from male inmates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnder my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow women incarcerated in jails or prisons to be subject to unconstitutional risks of harm from male inmates,\u201d she said. \u201cThese investigations will uncover whether the dangerous national trend of housing men in women\u2019s prisons has resulted in violations of women\u2019s constitutional rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-27-at-9.52.34-AM-421x576.png\")
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