Sing Sing

Coordinates: 41°9′6″N 73°52′8″W / 41.15167°N 73.86889°W / 41.15167; -73.86889

For other uses, see Sing-Sing (disambiguation).

Sing Sing Correctional Facility

Location	Ossining, New York
Status	Active
Security class	Maximum
Opened	1826 (Completed in 1828)
Managed by	New York State Department of Correctional Services
Director	Wardens[1] Elam Lynda (1825–1830) Robert Wiltse (1830–1834) David L. Seymour (1834–1843) William H. Peck (1843–1845) Hiram P. Rowell (1845–1848) Chauncey Smith (1848–1849) Edward L. Potter (January, 1849) Alfred R. Booth (July, 1849) Munson J. Lockwood (1850–1855) C. A. Batterman (1855–1856) William Beardsley (1856–1862) Gaylord B. Hubbell (1862-1864) Thomas E. Sutton (1864-1865) Stephen H. Johnson (1865–1868) David P. Forrest (1868–1869) Henry C. Nelson (1869–1870) E. M. Russell (1870–1872) Henry C. Nelson (1872–1873) Gaylord B. Hubbell (1873–1874) James Williamson (September 1874) Alfred Walker (October 1874) George R. Youngs (1876–1877) Charles Davis (February 1877) B. S. W. Clark (March 1877) Charles Davis (1877–1880) Augustus A. Brush (1880–1891) W.R. Brown (1891–1893) Charles F. Durston (1893–1894) Omar V. Sage (1894-1899) Addison Johnson (1899–1907) Jesse D. Frost (1907–1911) John S. Kennedy (1911–1913) James Connaughton* (June 1913) James M. Clancy (1913–1914) Thomas McCormick (June 1914) George Weed* (October 1914) Thomas M. Osborne (1914–1915) George W. Kirchwey (1915) Thomas M. Osborne (July 1916) Calvin Derrick (October 1916) William H. Moyer (1916–1919) Edward V. Brophy (April 1919) Daniel J. Grant* (1919–1920) Lewis E. Lawes (1920–1941) Robert J. Kirby (1941–1944) William F. Snyder (1944–1950) Wilfred L. Denno (1950–1967) John T. Deegan (1967–1969) James L. Casscles (1969–1972) Theodore Schubin (1972–1975) Joseph Higgins* (July 1975) Harold Butler (October 1975) William G. Gard (1975–1977) Walter Fogg* (August 1977) Stephen Dalsheim (1977–1980) Wilson E.J. Walters (1980–1983) James E. Sullivan (1983–1988) John P. Keane (1988–1997) Charles Greiner (1997–2000) Brian S. Fischer (2000–2007) Louis Marshall (2007-) * = Acting

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison^[2] operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York. It is located about 30 miles north of New York City on the bank of the Hudson River.

Ossining's former name, "Sing Sing," was derived from the name of a Native American tribe, "Sinck Sinck" (or "Sint Sinck"), from whom the land was purchased in 1685.^[3]

The Sing Sing prison confines about 1,700 prisoners.^[4] There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a museum.^[5]

The facility

The prison property is bisected by railroad tracks. There are four bridges over the tracks which connect the two halves of Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The northernmost bridge is a pedestrian crossing for employees which is outside the secure perimeter; this bridge is currently closed due to structural deficiencies. The next bridge southward contains utility lines such as steam pipes and electric lines. The 3rd bridge is a secure pedestrian bridge which can be used to move inmates from one side of the prison to the other. The southernmost bridge is a vehicle bridge inside the secure perimeter, which allows maintenance vehicles, shuttle buses and delivery trucks to move between sides without having to be re-inspected.^[6]

History

Early years

State Prison at Sing Sing, New York, an 1855 engraving

Sing Sing was the third prison built by New York State. The first prison was built in 1797 in Greenwich Village and a second one in 1816 called Auburn State Prison.^[7]

In 1824 the New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds, warden of Auburn Prison and a former Army captain, the task of constructing a new, more modern prison. Lynds spent months researching possible locations for the prison, considering Staten Island, The Bronx, and Silver Mine Farm, an area in the town of Mount Pleasant, located on the banks of the Hudson River.

He also visited New Hampshire, where a prison was successfully constructed by inmate labor, using stone that was available on-site. For this reason, by May, Lynds had finally decided on Mount Pleasant, located near a small village in Westchester County with the unlikely name of Sing Sing. This appellation was derived from the Native American words "Sinck Sinck" which translates to "stone upon stone".^[8] The legislature appropriated $20,100 to purchase the 130-acre (0.53 km²) site, and the project received the official stamp of approval.^[8] Lynds hand-selected 100 inmates from his own private stock for transfer and had them transported by barge along the Erie Canal to freighters down the Hudson River. On their arrival on May 14, the site was "without a place to receive them or a wall to enclose them"; "temporary barracks, a cook house, carpenter and blacksmith’s shops" were rushed to completion.^[9][10]

When it was opened in 1826,^[11] Sing Sing was considered a model prison, because it turned a profit for the state, and by October 1828 was finally completed.^[7] Lynds employed the Auburn system, which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other brutal punishments.

20th century

Warden T. M. Osborne

Thomas Mott Osborne's tenure as warden of Sing Sing prison was brief but dramatic. Osborne arrived in 1914 with a reputation as a radical prison reformer. His report of a week-long incognito stay inside New York's Auburn Prison indicted traditional prison administration in merciless detail.^[12]

Prisoners who had bribed officers and intimidated other inmates lost their privileges under Osborne's regime. One of them conspired with powerful political allies to destroy Osborne's reputation, even succeeding in getting him indicted for a variety of crimes and maladministration. After Osborne triumphed in court, his return to Sing Sing was a cause for wild celebration by the inmates.^[13][14]

Another notable warden was Lewis Lawes. He was offered the position of warden in 1919, accepted in January 1920, and remained for 20 years as Sing Sing's warden. While warden, Lawes brought about reforms and turned what was described as an "old hellhole" into a modern prison with sports teams, educational programs, new methods of discipline and more. Several new buildings were also constructed during the years Lawes was warden. Lawes retired in 1941 after 21 years as warden and died six years later. In 1943, the old cellblock was finally closed and the metal bars and doors were donated to the war effort.^[15][16] In 1989, the institution was accredited for the first time by the American Correctional Association, which established a set of national standards by which every correctional facility should be judged.^[17]

21st century

Today Sing Sing houses more than 2,000 inmates, with about 1,000 people working there and 5,000 visitors per month. The original 1825 cellblock is no longer used and in 2002 plans were announced to turn this into a museum.^[18] In April 2011 there have been talks to close the prison in favor of real estate.^[19]

Executions

For more details on this topic, see Capital punishment in New York.

Four inmates under federal death sentences were executed at Sing Sing. On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were electrocuted for espionage. On August 12, 1952, Gerhard A. Puff was electrocuted for murder.^[20] The last prisoner to be executed in the electric chair was Eddie Lee Mays who was convicted of murder and executed on August 15, 1963. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was unconstitutional and the chair was no longer used. Altogether, 614 men and women were executed at Sing Sing. The electric chair was later moved to Greenhaven Prison in working condition but was never used again.^[21]

Educational programs

In 1996, Katherine Vockins founded Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at Sing Sing.^[22] RTA works in collaboration with theater professionals to provide prisoners with a curriculum of year-round theater-related workshops.^[22] The RTA program has put on a number of plays at Sing Sing open to prisoners and community guests. The program has shown that the use of dramatic techniques leads to significant improvements in the cognitive behavior of the program's participants inside prison and a reduction in recidivism once paroled.^[23] The impact of RTA on social and institutional behavior was formally evaluated by John Jay College for Criminal Justice, in collaboration with the NYS Department of Corrections.^[24] Led by Dr. Lorraine Moller, Professor of Speech and Drama at John Jay, the study found that RTA had a positive impact on prisoners who participated in the program, showing that "the longer the inmate was in the program, the fewer violations he committed.".^[25] The RTA program currently operates at 5 other New York state prisons.^[23]

Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a not-for-profit organization was founded to provide college education to incarcerated people in an effort to help reduce recidivism and poverty, while strengthening families and communities. In 1998, as part of the get-tough-on-crime campaign, state and federal funding for college programs inside prison was stopped. Understanding the positive effects of education in the transformation and rehabilitiation of incarcerated people, inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility reached out to religious and academic volunteers to develop a college-degree granting program. Under the leadership of Dr. Anne Reissner, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison was founded to restore college education at Sing Sing through private funding.^[26]

Museum

Plans to turn part of Sing Sing into a museum go back to 2005, when local officials sought to turn the old power house into the museum, linked by a tunnel to a retired cell block, at a cost of $5.0 Million.^[27] In 2007, the village of Ossining applied for $12.5 Million in Federal money for the project, expected then to cost $14 Million.^[28] The proposed museum will display the Sing Sing story unfolded over time.^[29]

Contribution to American English vernacular

The use of the expression "up the river" to mean "in prison" derives from the practice of sentencing people convicted in New York City to serve their prison terms in Sing Sing, which is literally "up the Hudson River" from the city. Its use dates from 1891.^[30][31]

In popular culture

• Sing Sing has appeared in numerous films including Angels with Dirty Faces, The Detective, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Big House, Castle on the Hudson, and 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, the latter two loosely based on a book by Lewis Lawes.
• Sing Sing Death House is the title of an album released by punk rock band The Distillers.
• It is mentioned several times in the TV series CSI: NY, Law and Order, Breakout Kings,^[32] and Castle.
• Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover is a 2001 account of a Sing Sing guard's career at the prison.
• The song "La Carcel de Sing Sing" by Bienvenido Brens tells the story of a convict of this prison that was condemned for double murder of his wife and her lover. The song was made famous by Alci Acosta.
• Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom are incarcerated in Sing Sing in the Broadway musical The Producers. While in the prison they develop a fictional musical performed by the prisoners entitled "Prisoners of Love."
• Fictional character Gordon Gekko is released from Sing Sing (identified as Otis Penitentiary) at the beginning of the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
• Fictional Torchwood character Angelo Colasanto is released from Sing Sing in 1928 in episode "Immortal Sins" of Torchwood: Miracle Day after a year incarcerated.

Gallery

• Sing Sing
• 

  The prison and workshops c.1863–1885

• 

  A cell in the older facility

• 

  The electric chair at the Sing Sing prison

• 

  The prison c.1913

• 

  Old cell block c.1938

See also

New York portal

• Wardens of Sing Sing

References

1. ^ "NYCHS: Guy Cheli's 'Sing Sing Prison' List of Wardens Page". Correctionhistory.org. http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/html/wardens.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
2. ^ "NYS Dept. of Corrections Facility list". NYS Dept. of Corrections. http://www.docs.state.ny.us/faclist.html. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
3. ^ "History of Ossining." Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on December 21, 2008.
4. ^ Hub System: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2007. State of New York, Department of Correctional Services. http://www.docs.state.ny.us/Research/Reports/Hub_Report_2007.pdf
5. ^ Village looks to create Sing Sing museum, May 22, 2007. Earthtimes.org http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/65218.html
6. ^ "Railroad.net bridge and rail details". http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=68568. Retrieved 2011-06-05. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "NYCHS excerpts: Guy Cheli's "Sing Sing Prison"". Correctionhistory.org. http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/cheliindex.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Crime Library profile of Sing Sing Prison http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/index.html
9. ^ ""The History of Sing Sing Prison, by the Half Moon Press, May 2000"". Hudsonriver.com. http://www.hudsonriver.com/halfmoonpress/stories/0500sing.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
10. ^ Lewis, O.F. (2005). The development of American prisons and prison customs, 1776-1845 : with special reference to early institutions in the State of New York. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. p. 109. ISBN 9781417964024.  Google Books
11. ^ "New York State Archives: Institutional Records: Sing Sing Correctional Facility". Archives.nysed.gov. http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/res_topics_legal_corrections_inst_sing.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
12. ^ *Within Prison Walls: Being a Narrative of Personal Experience During a Week of Voluntary Confinement in the Stete Prison at Auburn, New York (NY: Appleton and Company, 1914).
13. ^ Denis Brian, Sing Sing: The Inside Story of a Notorious Prison, 85-112.
14. ^ *New York Times: "Convicts' Carnival Welcomes Osborne" July 17, 1916, accessed Dec. 8, 2009.
15. ^ "Lewis E. Lawes' NYC & NYC Correctional Career:Part 2". Correctionhistory.org. 2003-06-25. http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/lawes/lewiselawesnotes2.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
16. ^ "All about Sing Sing Prison, by Mark Gado — Lewis E. Lawes — Crime Library on". Trutv.com. 1920-01-01. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/8.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
17. ^ "NYCHS excerpts: Mark Gado's "Stone Upon Stone: Sing Sing Prison"". Correctionhistory.org. http://www.correctionhistory.org/auburn&osborne/bighouse5.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
18. ^ "All about Sing Sing Prison, by Mark Gado — Sing Sing Now — Crime Library on". Trutv.com. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/13.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
19. ^ "'Up the river' views: Sing Sing condos". New York Post. 2011-04-06. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/up_the_river_views_SCFWPU7s5zANHRGvrSF0CJ. 
20. ^ "Executions of Federal Prisoners (since 1927)." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on August 22, 2010.
21. ^ "NYCHS excerpts: Mark Gado's 'Stone Upon Stone: Sing Sing Prison'". Correctionhistory.org. http://www.correctionhistory.org/auburn&osborne/bighouse4.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
22. ^ ^{a b} New York Times: For Inmates, a Stage Paved With Hope May 27, 2007.
23. ^ ^{a b} "Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage". P-c-i.org. http://www.p-c-i.org/rta.php. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
24. ^ "Program Objectives - Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage". P-c-i.org. http://www.p-c-i.org/rta_objectives.php. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
25. ^ "The Impact of RTA on Social and Institutional Behavior Executive Summary Lorraine Moller, Ph.D" (PDF). http://www.p-c-i.org/press/MollerStudy.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
26. ^ "Hudson Link homepage". hudsonlink.org. http://www.hudsonlink.org. Retrieved 2011-05-19. 
27. ^ http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2177
28. ^ "Would a Sing Sing Museum Be in Bad Taste?". The New York Times. 2007-05-20. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/20colwe.htmlM. 
29. ^ http://planning.westchestergov.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1174&Itemid=2488
30. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary: "river". Retrieved February 21, 2010.
31. ^ Encyclopedia.com: Sing Sing. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
32. ^ http://breakoutkings.wikia.com/wiki/Sing_Sing_Correctional_Facility

Further reading

• Barnes, Harry Elmer. The Repression of Crime, Studies in Historical Penology. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
• Blumenthal, Ralph. Miracle at Sing Sing: How One Man Transformed the Lives of America's Most Dangerous Prisoners. (2005)
• Brian, Denis. Sing Sing: The Inside Story of a Notorious Prison. (2005)
• Brockway, Zebulon Reed. Fifty Years of Prison Service. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
• Christianson, Scott. Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House. (2000)
• Conover, Ted. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (2000) ISBN 0-375-50177-0
• Gado, Mark. Death Row Women. (2008) ISBN 978-0-275-99361-0
• Goeway, David. Crash Out: The True Tale of a Hell's Kitchen Kid and the Bloodiest Escape in Sing Sing History. (2005)
• Lawes, Lewis E.. Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing. New York: Ray Long & Richard H. Smith, Inc., 1932.
• Lawes, Lewis E.. Life and Death in Sing Sing. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., 1928
• Morris, James McGrath. The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism.(2003)
• Papa, Anthony. 15 to Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom (2004) ISBN 1932595066
• Pereira, Al Bermudez. Sing Sing State Prison, One Day, One Lifetime (2006) ISBN 978-0805972900
• Pereira, Al Bermudez. Ruins of a Society and the Honorable (2009) ISBN 978-0578043432
• Weinstein, Lewis M. A Good Conviction. (2007) ISBN 1595941622 (fiction)

External links

• Facility Listing - New York State Department of Correctional Services
• "All about Sing Sing Prison" by Mark Gado from The Crime Library
• New York Corrections History Society
• Town of Ossining, NY - Town History
• "The History of Sing Sing Prison" Half Moon Press, May 2000 issue
• Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage