Fox Lake Prison Hosts One-of-a-Kind Funeral Service

By George Hesselberg
Wisconsin State Journal
September 12, 1997

A hearse and casket were allowed into the Fox Lake Correctional Institution last month as part of an apparently unprecedented funeral service for the mother of an inmate.

The inmate, Norbert Maday, 59, is a Catholic priest serving time for convictions of the sexual assaults of two boys. His mother, Catherine Maday, died the weekend before the service, which was held Aug. 27, a Wednesday.

The decision to hold the service, described as a ''memorial service'' and not a funeral Mass, was not made by the Fox Lake warden, Gerald Berge.

Berge said he was told by ''my boss in Madison'' at the Department of Corrections Division of Adult Institutions to arrange the service. He said the original request came from Catholic Church authorities in Illinois.

Madison prison officials were not available for comment.

Berge said he probably would not allow a similar service to be held again. Two funeral home workers, at least one Catholic priest and at least six people who are on the inmate's approved visitor list attended the brief memorial service in the prison chapel, Berge said. It lasted about 15 minutes.

He said the casket was not searched, going in or coming out of the prison and chapel, because it was sealed.

''We did not check the casket because it was not to be opened at any time during the event, so we did not have reason to inspect it. It was sealed closed,'' Berge said.

The service was requested because of a new prison policy that prohibits prisoners of medium and maximum security institutions from attending funerals. The old policy allowed travel to a funeral or memorial service or for a ''death-bed visit'' based on good behavior. The new policy prohibits all such visits.

Maday was an associate pastor at Our Lady of Ridge parish in Chicago Ridge, Ill. He was convicted in 1994 of three counts of second degree sexual assault and one count of intimidating a witness. The sexual molestations occurred in 1986 at an outreach center in Oshkosh. His sentence totaled 20 years, with a mandatory release date of October 2007.

A state prison spokesman, Bill Clausius, said the funeral policy change was made because of the extra cost to the state of paying officers for transportation and overtime. There were also security questions after an inmate attempted to escape during a funeral visit.

Berge said that when Maday's mother died in August, Maday ''requested that he be allowed to go to the funeral,'' but based on the new rules, that request was denied.

''Subsequent to that, he, and apparently a number of people in the Catholic Church requested that we conduct the service here, given the fact that we couldn't, or wouldn't, take him to the funeral,'' Berge said.

He said a funeral home from Gurnee, Ill., brought the casket and a hearse to the prison. Everyone went through normal entrance security, he said.

Berge said the chapel is the site of memorial services, but this is the first time in his memory that a casket and body were allowed.

He said at least one inmate has complained, informally, about the service. That inmate had been denied permission to attend a funeral because of the Aug. 1 policy change, Berge said.

''I don't think it is very likely we would approve'' another, similar memorial service, Berge said.

Already in place is an alternative which would have relatives videotape a funeral ceremony to show an inmate in the prison chapel, Berge said.

Asked if the service with casket and priest in the prison was allowed because the inmate is a priest, Berge said ''I have no way of answering that.

''My boss asked me to make the arrangements, and I did.''

He said the state incurred no expenses for the service.