Three more women have joined a suit against the Maine Department of Corrections over what they say was repeated harassment and assault by a transgender prisoner at the women’s prison in Windham.

The suit has also been updated to include a First Amendment complaint, with allegations of abuse and retaliation at the prison.

The suit, filed in April, names Commissioner Randall Liberty of the Maine Department of Corrections, warden Ben Beal, and Andrew Balcer, a transgender inmate serving time at the prison for the 2017 murder of her parents who goes by Andrea Balcer.

The suit was filed by attorney Cynthia Dill after 41-year-old Katie Mountain, an inmate at the prison, came forward with her complaints earlier in the year.

Mountain and several other women reported they were repeatedly groped, propositioned and intimidated by Balcer while prison officials refused to do anything to remedy the situation.

The three new plaintiffs joined the lawsuit this week when a First Amendment complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court.

In the updated suit, inmate Jennifer Albert alleges Balcer “subjected her to unwanted sexual contact,” including one incident that involved digital penetration while Albert was suffering from a back injury.

Inmate Michaela Sargent, using masculine pronouns, claims Balcer “routinely harassed her with graphic threats of rape and exposed himself to her.”

Danielle Foster, in the suit, charges that Balcer stood naked in her room while she slept and suggested doing “things” to her in her sleep. Foster also said she was forced to witness other transgender female inmates exposing themselves.

“All four women allege that when they reported these incidents or refused to affirm Balcer’s gender identity, they were met with retaliation,” Dill wrote in a press release. “This included being placed in segregation, being denied hygiene supplies and medication and losing eligibility for early release while Balcer allegedly continued to enjoy the ‘full panoply of perks’ in the women’s prison.”

The updated complaint, according to Dill, significantly expands a legal challenge against state policies that result in transgender women being housed in women’s prisons.

In particular, the lawsuit characterizes the prevailing state policy as “state-sponsored gender orthodoxy rooted in a theory of gender ideology that treats biological sex as ‘irrelevant, mutable and can change by sheer will.'”

“By enforcing this orthodoxy,” the court filing says, “the complaint alleges the state has effectively ‘erased’ the female sex class from legal protection …”

According to the complaint, since Maine’s Gender ID law was amended in 2021, forcing prisons to accept the stated gender of inmates, the number of reported sexual misconduct incidents at Maine prisons has almost quadrupled.

In all, the suit Mountain v. Liberty asserts 10 counts, including violations of constitutional amendments meant to protect the women from cruel and unusual punishment and to ensure their rights to freedom of speech and religion.

The four women are seeking a permanent injunction against the Gender ID law and related policies. They are also seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Shortly before Mountain’s suit was filed in April, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would investigate Maine’s practice of housing transgender women in women’s prison, citing the Balcer case specifically.