The Justice Department revoked funding for Maine’s department of corrections over the state’s placement of a transgender woman in a women’s prison, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday. 

Bondi made the announcement during an interview with Fox News, saying the department pulled all “nonessential” funding from the state corrections department on Monday after federal officials learned “a guy” was serving time in one of the state’s two women’s facilities. Bondi said the inmate was convicted of murder. 

The loss in funding for the department totaled upward of $1.5 million, according to Fox News. The Justice Department did not return a request for comment. 

In a news release, Maine’s department of corrections said it received formal notice from the Department of Justice Monday that certain federal grants “are being terminated because they ‘no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities.’” The cuts will impact state-run initiatives related to substance abuse treatment and support for children with incarcerated parents, the corrections department said. 

The notice from the Justice Department, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, does not mention transgender inmates. “While the Department is aware of related public statements by the United States Attorney General, the notice is the only communication that has been received by the Department,” Maine’s corrections department said. 

The move by the Justice Department is the latest development in a monthlong battle between the Trump administration and Maine over the state’s refusal to ban transgender student-athletes from girls’ and women’s sports as ordered by the president.  

Another Trump executive order directs transgender women in federal women’s prisons to be moved to men’s facilities. A federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing that order in February. 

President Trump threatened earlier this year to withhold federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his order on transgender athletes, igniting a fight with Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who said the state will see Trump “in court.” 

State officials, including Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey (D), have said Trump’s order conflicts with the Maine Human Rights Act, which explicitly protects the right of transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity. 

Frey sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday after the department also froze some of the state’s funding, arguing the move would hobble the state’s ability to feed students relying on nutrition assistance programs.