Trans killer intimidated, assaulted woman with whom he shared cell in Maine women's prison: female inmate

A female inmate at the Maine Correctional Center has spoken out, recounting how a trans-identified male inmate who is serving time alongside female inmates has assaulted and intimidated her and others at the facility. In a letter sent to the Maine Wire, inmate Katie Mountain, who is serving 10 months on theft charges, wrote that she is facing a "nightmare from hell" at the facility. 

She wrote that shortly after arriving at the prison, "I was forced into a situation of sharing a bunk with a male inmate. This inmate claims to be transgender but physically is still male and has a very masculine personality. He makes jokes like, 'sorry I can’t help you but I can put a baby in you' or hits you with a teabag and says 'I teabagged you!' He makes many jokes concerning his manhood. It was a very hard move for me because I am a married woman and sharing a bunk with him goes against everything I believe." 

She said that the trans inmate would sit "at the top of my bed just staring at me while I slept then would make comments like 'don’t worry if you don’t wake up I smothered you with a pillow,' or thinking it’s funny saying 'Mountain wanna murder that light for me.'" 

She recounted one instance where the inmate "asked me to go into the bathroom" so he could "read some of the story he was writing for me to me." She said she found out "it was a sex scene," and that when she attempted to leave the bathroom, the inmate "pushed me back to the wall and kissed me." 

She said she had tried repeatedly to get moved from the room, being told multiple times "to hang in there I would be moving soon." She said she had a hard time telling authorities at the prison "what I was fully going through because I was ashamed and embarrassed." She said the sergeant had told her the same week of writing the letter that she was not being moved, and "I finally snapped and called him a liar," telling him "I couldn’t live in there anymore and I would do anything like go smash my roommate in the mouth so I could get free of it all. I didn’t think I could stand one more second living in fear and straight stress like I had been."

She was brought to solitary confinement "and had everything taken from me." She said her medication was kept from her for the first day, and did not receive clean clothing until three days later. "I lost pre-release and SCCP (home confinement) and my level 4 all because of this."

She said the roommate in question is Andrea Balcer, who is "still at the women’s center living her best life. He assaults women like me and they look the other way as I have now found I am the at least 6th girl he has done this to." 

Andrea Balcer, also known as Andrew, was sentenced in 2018 to 40 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to murdering his parents, as well as the family dog, just six weeks before his 18th birthday. The Maine Department of Corrections describes Balcer as being 6’1" and 310 lbs, and the earliest he is set to be released is July 2051. 

"The prison is doing nothing to stop him," Mountain continued. "Trump pulled our funding for him being here and women being unsafe so them knowing he is a predator and allowing it makes it so much worse."

In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the administration had pulled "nonessential" funding from Maine’s Department of Corrections over its housing of a male in women’s prison. "So they were letting him be housed in a female prison. No longer. We will pull your funding. We will protect women in sports. We will protect women in prison. We will protect women throughout this country," Bondi said at the time. Since 2023, the Maine Department of Corrections has followed a policy that allows trans-identified inmates to be housed based on their self-declared gender identity.

Balcer had called 911 in the early hours of Halloween 2016 to say that he had stabbed his parents, Alice and Antonio Balcer, as well as the dog. Balcer’s brother had been in the home at the time. Balcer told a 911 dispatcher, "I snapped." He stabbed his mother while she went in to hug the then-teen, then stabbed his father who had been awoken by Alice Balcer’s screams. Balcer then stabbed the dog because it would not stop barking. 

Dr. Debra Baeder, Maine’s chief forensic psychiatrist, testified during the trial that Balcer believed his parents would not accept his transgender identity.