Michael Skakel, convicted of the murder of Martha Moxley and denied bail pending appeal is in a maximum security prison in Connecticut. Ms. Moxley was killed when Skakel was 15. Skakel is now 45 or so--he has not been involved with other criminal activity, has been clean and sober for fifteen or more years, and stuck around knowing he was going to be charged and then appeared every day for his trial.

His father, Rushton Skakel, the brother of Ethel Kennedy, died on Friday. Many prisons allow inmates furloughs to attend family funerals. Particularly if the inmate is willing to pay the cost of transportation and perhaps overtime for the police/marshalls who accompany them. Usually the inmate is handcuffed during the funeral service.

The Connecticut authorites have refused Michael permission to attend his father's funeral. Why? Skakel does not present a danger to the community and is not a flight risk. Other prisoners get to go, so why not him? According to the
spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Corrections, it's because he's serving his sentence in a maximum security prison and applications for funeral furloughs are only allowed to be made by those in minimum security prisons.

Sounds quite unfair to us. But then, we thought his trial was unfair.