Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility
Sing Sing as seen from Hook Mountain, across the Hudson River
Location Ossining (town), New York
Status Active
Security class Maximum
Capacity 1,700+
Opened 1826 (Completed in 1828)
Managed by New York State Department of Correctional Services
Director * = Acting

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison [2] of the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the Town of Ossining, New York. It is located approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City along the banks of the Hudson River. Ossining's original name, "Sing Sing", came from the Native American Sinck Sinck (Sint Sinck) tribe from whom the land was purchased in 1685.[3]

Sing Sing houses approximately 1,700 prisoners.[4] There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a museum.[5]

Contents

History

Early Years

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

Sing Sing is the third of three prisons that were built along the hudson river. The first prison was built in 1797 in Greenwich Village and a second one in 1816 called Auburn State Prison. [6]

In 1824, the New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds the task of constructing a new, more modern prison. Lynds was the warden of Auburn Prison and a former Army captain. He 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 Indian words "Sinck Sinck" which translates to "stone upon stone".[7] The legislature appropriated $20,100 to purchase the 130-acre (0.53 km2) site, and the project received the official stamp of approval.[7] 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.[8][9]

When it was opened in 1826[10], Sing Sing was considered a model prison, because it turned a profit for the state, and by October 1828 was finally completed. [11] 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] He seized the opportunity to implement a complete set of reforms at Sing Sing, centered on what he called a "Mutual Welfare Society," a board elected by the inmates to maintain order and punish infractions of the rules. Initially mocked by the press, he won many converts, including the support of the officers.

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 aports teams, educational programs, new methods of discipline and more. Several new buildings were 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 (Sing Sing Today)

Today Sing Sing houses more than 2,000 inmates. With about 1,000 people working there and 5,000 visitors per day. The orginal 1825 cellblock is no longer used and in 2002 plans were announced to turn this into a museum.[18]

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.[19][20]

Executions

Three 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.[21] The last prisoner to be executed in the electric chair was on August 15, 1963 for Eddie Lee Mays who was conviced of murder. In 1972 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was unconstitutional as such the chair was shut off. 614 men and women were executed at Sing Sing alltogther. The electric chair was later moved to Greenhaven Prison in working condition but was never used again. [22]

Theater and arts program

In 1996, Katherine Vockins founded Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at Sing Sing [23]. RTA works in collaboration with theater professionals to provide prisoners with a curriculum of year-round theater-related workshops [23]. 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 [24]. 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.[25]. 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." [26]. The RTA program currently operates at 5 other New York state prisons [24].

Wardens

References

  1. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/html/wardens.html
  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. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/cheliindex.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Crime Library profile of Sing Sing Prison http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/index.html
  8. ↑ "The History of Sing Sing Prison, by the Half Moon Press, May 2000"
  9. ↑ 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. pp. 109. ISBN 9781417964024.  Google Books
  10. ↑ "New York State Archives: Institutional Records: Sing Sing Correctional Facility"
  11. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/cheliindex.html
  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. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/lawes/lewiselawesnotes2.htm
  16. ↑ http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/8.html
  17. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/auburn&osborne/bighouse5.htm
  18. ↑ http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sing_sing/13.html
  19. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary: "river", accessed February 21, 2010
  20. ↑ Encyclopedia.com: Sing Sing, accessed February 21, 2010
  21. ↑ "Executions of Federal Prisoners (since 1927)." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on August 22, 2010.
  22. ↑ http://www.correctionhistory.org/auburn&osborne/bighouse4.htm
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 New York Times: For Inmates, a Stage Paved With Hope May 27, 2007
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage
  25. ↑ Program Objectives - Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage
  26. ↑ The Impact of RTA on Social and Institutional Behavior Executive Summary Lorraine Moller, Ph.D

Further reading

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