Sing Sing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (March 2009)

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison ^[1] in the Village of Ossining, Town of Ossining, New York, United States. It is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City on the banks of the Hudson River. Ossining's original name, "Sing Sing", was named after the Native American Sinck Sinck tribe from whom the land was purchased in 1685.^[2]

Sing Sing houses approximately 1,700 prisoners.^[3] There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a museum.^[4]

Contents 1 History 2 Theater and Arts Program at Sing Sing 3 Notable prisoners 4 Contribution to English vernacular 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

[edit] History

In March 1796, legislation was passed requiring the building of two state prisons in New York, one in Albany and the other somewhere in southern New York. In addition to the plan for the construction of the two prisons, there was to be appointed a "Board of inspectors," whose job was to "statedly visit the prisons, purchase clothing, bedding, raw materials for manufacturing purposes and to keep an account of the earnings and expenses of each prison"^{[citation needed]}; the law also provided that the state governor and Council were to appoint a "Keeper, who was to be of some mechanical profession."^{[citation needed]} No prison was built in Albany, but one was constructed in Auburn, beginning in April 1815 and opening a year later.

In 1825, 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".^[5] The legislature appropriated $20,100 to purchase the 130-acre (0.53 km²) site, and the project received the official stamp of approval.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

When it was completed, Sing Sing was considered a model prison, because it turned a profit for the state. Lynds employed the Auburn system, which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other brutal punishments. Visitors found the silence of the up-to 900 prisoners, even as they worked. After Lynds left in the wake of a scandal involving the pregnancy of a female prisoner^{[citation needed]}, conditions at the prison began to deteriorate. Fires and disease became common, and in 1861, the governor called in the army to quell a riot.

Another notable warden, besides Lynds, was Lewis Lawes. He was offered the position of warden in 1919 and accepted in January 1920,he remained Warden for 20 years, a position which had been filled by nine separate people in the previous nine years, one for only three weeks; What he found was a facility that had lost any semblance of order through decades of neglect and abuse. Records documented 795 male and 102 female prisoners at Sing Sing. A head count turned up only 762 and 82 actually present.^{[citation needed]} "How these missing prisoners had left the prison or when, could not be ascertained," he said.^{[citation needed]} Worse still, for one prisoner who had been incarcerated for five years, there was no record of admission or retention history. He was declared a "volunteer," and released on the spot.^{[citation needed]} Also, more than $30,000 in cash was missing from prison bank accounts, and there was no trace as to where the money went.^{[citation needed]} Lewis Lawes made many positive changes and put inmates in positions within the prison he knew he could trust. Having known Jimmy DeStefano since he was a young orphaned boy running the streets of Little Italy with Al Capone and the Five Points Gang, he was not surprised when he reviewed the inmate records to see his name on the list. Knowing he could be trusted and depended upon to do one of the most stressful assignments in Sing Sing Prison, he assigned him as the Barber in the Death House. He remained in that position longer than any other inmate barber ever had. During the five years he was barber, he gave 46 men and one woman their final haircuts. The woman, Ruth Snyder, was executed for murdering her husband in order to gain insurance money. A New York Daily News photographer hid a camera on his ankle, and the moment the first jolt of electricity passed through Ruth Snyder's body, he snapped the most famous and only picture ever taken during an execution. This photo is still in demand today. Before Warden Lawes, documented punishments were brutal, and described a long history of abuse by both prison guards and wardens this changed under Warden Lewis E. Lawes he implemented historic reforms.

Sing Sing has its own ancient cemetery; among those buried there is serial killer Albert Fish.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Theater and Arts Program at Sing Sing

In 1996, Katherine Vockins founded Rehabilitation Through The Arts RTA Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at Sing Sing ^[8]. RTA works in collaboration with theater professionals to provide prisoners with a curriculum of year-round theater-related workshops ^[9]. 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 ^[10]. 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. ^[11]. 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." ^[12]. The RTA programn currently operates at 5 other New York state prisons ^[13].

[edit] Notable prisoners

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (March 2009)

• William Kemmler first man to be electrocuted - it was a complete failure and Kemmler was literally burned to death.
• Martha Place was the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She murdered her stepdaughter.
• Albert Fish, a serial killer and cannibal (executed in 1936 and buried in the prison cemetery).
• Carl Panzram, serial killer, 1923.
• Charles Becker, the first American policeman executed for murder.
• Vincent "The Shiv" DeStefano, member Five Points gang, was barber in the Death House for five years giving 46 men and one woman, (Ruth Snyder) final haircuts. Held the job longer than any other inmate barber.
• Ruth Snyder Second woman to be executed on January 20,1927, she murdered her husband with her lover, Henry Judd Gray for insurance money. New York Times photographer was paid $100.00 to snap a photo during her execution.
• Henry Judd Gray, executed 20 minutes after his lover Ruth Snyder.
• Charles Chapin, "The Rose Man", a former renown New York City newspaper editor, served a life sentence for murdering his ailing wife. Chapin is credited with beautifying Sing Sing grounds.
• Eddie Mays, last prisoner executed by the State of New York in the electric chair, in 1963, prior to New York State abolishing capital punishment.
• Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, executed after being convicted of being atomic spies for the Soviet Union (they were executed at Sing Sing because the U.S. federal prison system did not operate an electric chair).
• Frank Abbandando, former member of Murder, Inc.
• Gary McGivern, recipient of controversial clemency in 1985.
• George C. Parker, con artist who sold the Brooklyn Bridge.
• James Larkin, Irish labor leader imprisoned from 1920 to 1923 for 'criminal anarchy' as a result of his left wing writings.
• Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc. was executed there.
• Louis Capone, former member of Murder, Inc.; no relation to Al Capone.
• John "Cockeye" Dunn waterfront gangster.
• Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, electrocuted there after being found guilty for the murders of twelve people.
• Miguel Piñero, playwright; sentenced to 25 years for armed robbery.
• Richard Whitney, former president of the New York Stock Exchange.
• Piri Thomas, writer of Down These Mean Streets.
• Charles "Lucky" Luciano, considered the father of organized crime left his mark on Sing Sing.
• William H. Van Schaick, captain of the General Slocum, responsible for the worst maritime accident in New York's history.
• William Tager, infamous for attacking Dan Rather in New York and shouting "Kenneth, what is the frequency?", subsequently convicted and sentenced to 25 years for shooting a Today Show stagehand.
• Willie Sutton, bank robber.
• Benjamin Gitlow, communist convicted of criminal anarchy.
• Lamont "U-God" Hawkins, incarcerated during a majority of the production of his debut Wu Tang Clan album.

[edit] Contribution to English vernacular

• "Doing the sit-down dance", meaning execution in the electric chair, originated at Sing Sing.^[14]
• The expressions "up the river" or "upstate" for prison originally referred to those convicted in New York City being sent up the Hudson river to Sing Sing.^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• The Repression of Crime, Studies in Historical Penology by Harry Elmer Barnes. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
• Fifty Years of Prison Service by Zebulon Reed Brockway. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
• The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism by James McGrath Morris (2003)
• Crash Out: The True Tale of a Hell's Kitchen Kid and the Bloodiest Escape in Sing Sing History by David Goewey (2005)
• Miracle at Sing Sing: How One Man Transformed the Lives of America's Most Dangerous Prisoners by Ralph Blumenthal (2005)
• Sing Sing: The Inside Story of a Notorious Prison by Denis Brian (2005)
• Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House by Scott Christianson (2000)
• Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover (2000), ISBN 0-375-50177-0
• A Good Conviction a novel by Lewis M. Weinstein (2007), ISBN 1595941622
• 15 to Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom by Anthony Papa (2004), ISBN 1932595066
• Lawes, Lewis E.. 20,00 Years in Sing Sing. 1st. New York: Ray Long & Richard H. Smith, Inc., 1932.
• Sing Sing State Prison, One Day, One Lifetime, by Al Bermudez Pereira (2006), ISBN 978-0805972900.
• Death Row Women by Mark Gado (2008) ISBN 978-0-275-99361-0

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sing Sing

• "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

v • d • e New York State Department of Correctional Services prisons Drug Treatment Centers Willard♂♀ Shock Facilities Lakeview♂♀ | Monterey | Moriah | Summit Minimum Security Beacon♀ | Buffalo | Butler | Camp Gabriels | Camp Georgetown | Camp Pharsalia | Edgecombe | Fulton | Lincoln | Lyon Mountain | Queensboro | Rochester Medium Security Adirondack | Albion♀ | Altona | Arthur Kill | Bare Hill | Bayview♀ | Butler ASACTC | Cape Vincent | Cayuga | Chateaugay ASACTC | Collins | Fishkill | Franklin | Gouverneur | Gowanda | Greene | Groveland | Hale Creek ASACTC | Hudson | Livingston | Marcy | Mid-Orange | Mid-State | Mohawk | Mt. McGregor | Ogdensburg | Oneida | Orleans | Otisville | Riverview | Taconic♀ | Ulster | Wallkill | Washington | Watertown | Woodbourne | Wyoming Maximum Security Attica | Auburn | Bedford Hills♀ | Clinton | Coxsackie | Downstate | Eastern | Elmira | Five Points | Great Meadow | Green Haven | Shawangunk | Sing Sing | Southport | Sullivan | Upstate | Wende Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female) or ♂♀ (unisex)

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