Female Inmate Files Amended Complaint Against Maine Department of Corrections, Challenging “Gender ID Law” Following Allegations of Sexual Assault and Retaliation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Female Inmate Files Amended Complaint Against Maine Department of Corrections, Challenging “Gender ID Law” Following Allegations of Sexual Assault and Retaliation
CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — Katie Mountain, a 41-year-old female inmate currently serving a sentence at the Maine Correctional Center (MCC), has filed a First Amended Complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Maine. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality and application of 34-A M.R.S. §1208-B(3), a state law and related policies that require the Department of Corrections (DOC) to house inmates according to their "sincerely held core belief" regarding gender identity rather than biological sex.
The complaint alleges that the Maine DOC demonstrated a reckless disregard for the safety, privacy, and civil rights of female inmates by forcing Mountain to cohabitate with Andrew Balcer, a 27-year-old male serving a 40-year sentence for the murder of his parents. Mountain, who is 5 feet 2 inches tall, was placed in a cell with the 6-foot, 310-pound Balcer in January 2026.
According to the filing, Balcer subjected Mountain to graphic sexual stories, trapped her in a bathroom to forcibly kiss her, and made repeated threats of rape and impregnation. The complaint details disturbing behavior, including Balcer pointing to his crotch and making suggestive remarks about a “ten-man tent,” and sitting by Mountain’s bed while she slept, telling her, “Don’t worry, if you don’t wake up it’s because I smothered you with a pillow”.
The lawsuit further alleges a culture of retaliation and indifference within the MCC. When Mountain refused to return to a locked cell with Balcer following a sexual assault, she was reportedly punished with segregation, where she remains denied access to communal spaces, library privileges, and early release programs.
Most notably, the complaint details a "D Board" meeting where Mountain asked a DOC Captain if she was expected to stay in the room and be raped. The Captain allegedly replied, “Yes, you should have stayed in that room until the investigation was substantiated”.
Legal claims in the amended complaint include:
Eighth Amendment Violations: Alleging cruel and unusual punishment through deliberate indifference to inmate safety.
First Amendment Violations: Challenging compelled speech and "gender orthodoxy" that requires female inmates to refer to biological males as "she" or "her".
Fourteenth Amendment Violations: Alleging that DOC Policy 1.6 erased "sex" as a protected class, thereby denying female inmates equal protection under the law.
Religious Freedom Claims: Stating the policies violate Mountain’s Baptist faith, which holds that men and women are created separately.
The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment that the Gender ID law and related DOC policies are unconstitutional, an injunction to stop their enforcement, and damages for the physical and psychological distress Mountain has suffered.
“The prison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the protections of the Constitution,” the complaint states, noting that since the passage of the Gender ID law, reported PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) incidents at the MCC have almost quadrupled.
For further information, please contact: The Law Office of Cynthia Dill 1227 Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107 207-747-4172 | cynthia@dillesquire.com