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Will Madoff Miss His Son's Funeral?

Prison rules may forbid it.

When Mark Madoff is laid to rest, after committing suicide in New York on Saturday, his father Bernard may still be in his cell in North Carolina. According to the rules at the medium-security Butner Federal Correctional Institution, Bernard Madoff would not be allowed a supervised furlough to attend his son’s funeral, because he has more than two years pending on his term. (Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence.) "Furloughs are a privilege, not a right, and are only granted when clearly in the public interest," the prison’s Inmate Handbook says. One federal prison consultant explained that even though white-collar criminals are often granted emergency furloughs, Madoff’s case stood apart. "I would question whether they'd grant him a furlough because of heightened publicity," the consultant said. "He could be a target. He could be shot."