Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the

New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

in the village of

Ossining, New York Ossining may refer to: * Ossining (town), New York, a town in Westchester County, New York state *Ossining (village), New York, a village in the town of Ossining * Ossining High School, a comprehensive public high school in Ossining village * Ossi ...

. It is about north of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on the east bank of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. It holds about 1,700

inmates The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy M ...

and housed the

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death r ...

for the State of New York until the abolition of capital punishment in New York in 2004. The name "Sing Sing" was derived from the

Sintsink The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...

Native American tribe from whom the land was purchased in 1685, and was formerly the name of the village. In 1970, the prison's name was changed to the Ossining Correctional Facility, but it reverted to its original name in 1985. There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a period museum.Village looks to create Sing Sing museum, May 22, 2007. Earthtimes.org http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/65218.html The prison property is bisected by the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

's four-track Hudson Line.

History

Early years

Sing Sing was the fifth prison constructed by New York state authorities. In 1824, the

New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official te ...

gave Elam Lynds, warden of

Auburn Prison Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village. It is classified as a maximum security facility. History Constructed in 1816 as Auburn Pri ...

and a former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

captain, the task of constructing a new, more modern prison. Lynds spent months researching possible locations for the prison, considering

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and Silver Mine Farm, an area in the town of Mount Pleasant on the banks of the

. By May, Lynds had decided to build a prison on Mount Pleasant, near (and thus named after) a small village in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

named Sing Sing, whose name came from the

Wappinger The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...

( Native American) words ''sinck sinck'' which translates to 'stone upon stone'. In March 1825, the legislature appropriated $20,100 to purchase the site, and the project received the official stamp of approval. Lynds selected 100 inmates from the Auburn prison for transfer and had them transported by barge via the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

and down the

to freighters. 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.Google Books
/ref> When it was opened in 1826, it was considered a model prison because it turned a profit for the state. By October 1828 Sing Sing was completed. Lynds employed the

Auburn system The Auburn system (also known as the New York system and Congregate system) is a penal method of the 19th century in which persons worked during the day in groups and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. ...

, which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other punishments. It was John Luckey, the Prison Chaplain around 1843, who held the Principal Keeper of Sing Sing, Elam Lynds, accountable to New York Governor William H. Seward and President of the Board of Inspectors, John Edmonds, to have Lynds removed. Chaplain Luckey proceeded to create a great religious library. His purpose was to teach correct moral principles. His religious library was challenged in 1844 when John Edmonds placed

Eliza Farnham Eliza Farnham (November 17, 1815 – December 15, 1864) was a 19th-century American novelist, feminist, abolitionist, and activist for prison reform. Biography She was born in Rensselaerville, New York. She moved to Illinois in 1835, and there ...

in charge of the women's ward at Sing Sing. In 1844, the New York Prison Association was inaugurated to monitor state prison administration. The NY Prison Association was made up of reformers interested in the rehabilitation and humane treatment of prisoners. Farnham was able to obtain the job largely on the recommendation of these reformers. Farnham overturned the strictly silent practice in prison and introduced social engagement to shift concern more toward the future instead of dwelling on the criminal past. She included novels by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

in Chaplain Luckey's religious library, novels the chaplain did not approve of. This was the first documented expansion of the prison library to include moral teachings from secular literature.

Since 1900

Thomas Mott Osborne Thomas Mott Osborne (September 23, 1859 – October 20, 1926) was an American prison administrator, prison reformer, industrialist and New York State political reformer. In an assessment of Osborne's life, a ''New York Times'' book reviewer wrote ...

's tenure as warden of Sing Sing 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

indicted traditional prison administration in merciless detail. 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. Another notable warden was

Lewis Lawes Lewis Edward Lawes (September 13, 1883 – April 23, 1947) was a prison warden and a proponent of prison reform. During his 21-year tenure at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, he supervised the executions of 303 prisoners. Biography Lawes was born ...

. He was offered the position of warden in 1919, accepted in January 1920, and remained for 21 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 constructed during the years Lawes was warden. Lawes retired in 1941 and died six years later. In 1943, the old cellblock was closed and the metal bars and doors were donated to the war effort. In 1989, the institution was accredited for the first time by the

American Correctional Association The American Correctional Association (ACA; called the National Prison Association before 1954) is a private, non-profit, non-governmental trade association and accrediting body for the corrections industry, the oldest and largest such associati ...

, which established a set of national standards by which it judged every correctional facility. , Sing Sing houses approximately 1,500 inmates, employs about 900 people, and has hosted over 5,000 visitors per month. The original 1825 cell block is no longer used and in 2002 plans were announced to turn it into a museum. In April 2011 there were talks of closing the prison to take advantage of its valuable real estate.

Executions

In total, 614 men and women – including four inmates under federal death sentences – were executed by

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

at Sing Sing until the abolition of the death penalty in 1972. After a series of escapes from death row, a new Death House was built in 1920 and began executions in 1922. High profile executions in Sing Sing's electric chair, nicknamed " Old Sparky", include

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...

on June 19, 1953, for

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

on nuclear weapon research; and

Gerhard Puff Gerhard Arthur Puff (February 13, 1914 – August 12, 1954) was a gangster executed by the federal authorities in New York for killing a federal agent. Born in Dresden, Germany, the 13-year-old Puff, along with his mother and five-year-old brothe ...

on August 12, 1954, for the murder of an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

agent. The last person executed in New York state was

Eddie Lee Mays Eddie Lee Mays (March 15, 1929 – August 15, 1963) was the last person to be executed by the New York (state), state of New York. He was convicted of first degree murder and robbery in 1962. Mays was 34 years old at the time of execution. Early ...

, for murder, on August 15, 1963. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled in ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...

'' that the death penalty was unconstitutional if its application was inconsistent and arbitrary. This led to a temporary ''de facto'' nationwide moratorium (executions resumed in other states in 1977), but the electric chair at Sing Sing remained. In the early 1970s, the electric chair was moved to

Green Haven Correctional Facility Green Haven Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in New York. The prison is located in the Town of Beekman in Dutchess County. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision lists the address as Route 216 ...

in working condition, but was never used again.

Educational programs

In 2013, Sing Sing Superintendent Michael Capra and NBC producer Dan Slepian working with a group of 12 incarcerated men to start a program called "Voices From Within", in an effort to "redefine what it means to pay a debt to society" Their first project was an emotional video about gun violence, where the men spoke directly to the youth in the communities from which they came. Slepian released the video in 2014 TEDxTalk at Sing Sing. The video is currently being used by various non-profits and law enforcement agencies to help prevent gun violence. In 1996, Katherine Vockins founded

Rehabilitation Through the Arts Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA) was founded by Katherine Vockins in 1996 in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, and now operates in six men's and women's, maximum and medium security New York State prisons: Sing Sing, Bedfo ...

(RTA) at Sing Sing,Susan Hodara
"For Inmates, a Stage Paved With Hope"
''The New York Times'', May 27, 2007. enabling theater professionals to provide prisoners with a curriculum of year-round theater-related workshops. It has produced several plays at Sing Sing open to prisoners and community guests and has shown that the use of dramatic techniques leads to significant improvements in the cognitive behavior of the program's participants and a reduction in

recidivism Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...

once paroled. Its impact on social and institutional behavior was formally evaluated by the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, in collaboration with the NY State Department of Corrections. Led by Dr. Lorraine Moller, Professor of Speech and Drama at John Jay, the study found that it had a positive impact on prisoner Pavle Stanimirovic, one of the program's first participants, that "the longer the inmate was in the program, the fewer violations he committed." RTA currently operates at five other New York state prisons. The organization, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, provides college courses to incarcerated people to help reduce recidivism and poverty and strengthen families and communities. In 1998, as part of the get-tough-on-crime campaign, state and federal funding for college programs inside the prison was stopped. Understanding the positive effects of education in the transformation and rehabilitation of incarcerated people, inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility reached out to religious and academic volunteers to develop a college degree-granting program. Under Anne Reissner, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison was founded to restore college education at Sing Sing through private funding.

Football team

In 1931, new prison reforms permitted Sing Sing State Penitentiary prisoners to partake in recreation opportunities. The

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams, and the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

presentations and concerts, were funded through revenue from paid attendance.

Tim Mara Timothy James Mara (July 29, 1887 – February 16, 1959) was the founding owner of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL).''Wellington, the Maras, the Giants, and the City of New York'', Carlo DeVito, Triumph Books, 2006, pp ...

, the owner of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, sponsored the Sing Sing Black Sheep, Sing Sing's football team. Mara provided equipment and uniforms and players to tutor them in fundamentals. He helped coach them the first season. Known as the Black Sheep, they were also sometimes called the Zebras. All games were "home" games, played at Lawes Stadium, named for Warden

Lewis E. Lawes Lewis Edward Lawes (September 13, 1883 – April 23, 1947) was a prison warden and a proponent of prison reform. During his 21-year tenure at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, he supervised the executions of 303 prisoners. Biography Lawes was born ...

. In 1935, the starting quarterback and two other starters escaped the morning before a game. Alabama Pitts was their starting quarterback and star for the first four seasons, but then finished his sentence. Upon release, Alabama Pitts played for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in 1935. In 1932, "graduate"

Jumbo Morano Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and ...

was signed by the Giants and played for the Paterson Nighthawks of the Eastern Football League. In 1934, State Commissioner of Correction, Walter N. Thayer banned the advertising of activities at the prison, including football games. On November 19, 1936, a new rule banned ticket sales. No revenues would be derived from show and sports event ticketing. These funds had been paying for disbursements to prisoners' families, especially the kin of those executed, and for equipment and coaches' salaries. With this new edict, the season ended and prisoners were no longer allowed to play football outside Sing Sing.

Museum

Plans to turn a portion of Sing Sing into a museum date back to 2002, when local officials sought to turn the old powerhouse into the museum, linked by a tunnel to a retired cell block, for $5 million. In 2007, the village of Ossining applied for $12.5 million in federal money for the project, at the time expected to cost $14 million. The proposed museum would display the Sing Sing story as it unfolded over time.

Contribution to American English

The expression "up the river" to describe someone in prison or heading to prison derives from the practice of sentencing people convicted in New York City to serve their terms in Sing Sing, which is located up the

from the city. The slang expression dates from 1891.

Gallery

File:Houghton AC8 W6795 840aag - American Scenery, Sing Sing.jpg, View from afar, 1857 engraving File:Prison and workshops, looking south, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views crop.jpg, The prison and workshops, c.1863–1885 File:Sing Sing (prison) - cell.jpg, A cell in the older facility File:Sing Sing after arson fire.jpg, Sing Sing after the 1913 fire File:Sing 3842835064 769bc7715d o.jpg, The prison, c.1913 File:Sing Sing old cell block.jpg, Old cell block, c.1938 File:Sing Sing 012.jpg,

Guard tower A guard tower is any military tower used for guarding an area. These towers are usually operated by military personnel, and are structures built in areas of established control. These include military bases and cities occupied by military forces. ...

in 2014. Hudson River and

Tappan Zee The Tappan Zee (; also Tappan Sea or Tappaan Zee) is a natural widening of the Hudson River, about across at its widest, in southeastern New York. It stretches about along the boundary between Rockland and Westchester counties, downstream fr ...

Bridge are in the background.

Notable inmates

Frank Abbandando Frank Abbandando (July 11, 1910 – February 19, 1942), nicknamed "The Dasher", was a New York City contract killer who committed many murders as part of the infamous Murder, Inc. gang. His preferred killing method was to stab his victims thr ...

and

Harry Maione Harry "Happy" Maione (October 7, 1908 – February 19, 1942) was a New York mobster who served as a hitman for Murder, Inc. (the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate) during the 1930s. Maione was called "Happy" because his face disp ...

, hitmen and members of

Murder, Inc. Murder, Inc. (Murder, Incorporated) was an organized crime group, active from 1929 to 1941, that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicatea closely connected criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the ...

, both executed in 1942. * George Appo, 19th-century pickpocket and con artist. *

Charles Becker Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...

, NYPD Lieutenant convicted for the murder of

Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 18 ...

and executed at Sing Sing on July 30, 1915. * Maria Barbella, the second woman sentenced to death by electric chair. The sentence was later overruled and Barbella was set free. *

Robert Bierenbaum Robert Bierenbaum (born July 22, 1955) is an American former Plastic surgery, plastic surgeon and convicted murderer. He was convicted in October 2000 of having murdered his estranged wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum 15 years earlier in their Manhattan ...

, convicted in October 2000 of having murdered his estranged wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, 15 years earlier. *

Louis Buchalter Louis Buchalter, known as Louis Lepke or Lepke Buchalter, (February 6, 1897March 4, 1944) was an American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc., during the 1930s. Buchalter was one of the premier labor racketeers in New York City ...

, American mobster and head of

who served 18 months at Sing Sing for

grand larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...

. On January 22, 1920, he returned to Sing Sing on a 30 month sentence for attempted burglary. Buchalter was released on March 16, 1922. He was later executed for murder in 1944. *

Elmer "Trigger" Burke Elmer "Trigger" Burke (1917 – January 9, 1958) was a notorious hitman during the mid-to-late 1940s. He was brought up by his older brother, Charlie. In 1941, he was sent to reform school, but later had his sentence cut for joining the army, where ...

, hitman, executed in 1958. *

Louis Capone Louis Capone (September 5, 1896 – March 4, 1944) was a New York organized crime figure who became a supervisor for Murder, Inc. Louis Capone was not related to Al Capone, the boss of the Chicago Outfit. Capone was convicted of murder in 19 ...

and

Emanuel Weiss Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss (June 11, 1906 – March 4, 1944) was an American organized crime figure. He was an associate of the notorious Louis Buchalter and part of Buchalter's criminal organization known as Murder, Inc. during the 1930s and up t ...

, members of

, both executed in 1944. *

Frank Cirofici Francesco Cirofici (also known as Frank Murato or Dago Frank, 1887 – April 13, 1914) was an Italian-American criminal and gangster, who, along with Harry Horowitz, was responsible for the July 16, 1912 murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal outside ...

Harry Horowitz Harry Horowitz ( – April 13, 1914), also known as "Gyp the Blood", was an American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City. Early life and career Harry Horowitz was born on the Lower East Side of Manhatta ...

, Jacob Seidenshner, and Louis Rosenberg, accomplices of Charles Becker, were all executed in 1914. *

Charles Chapin Charles E. Chapin (October 19, 1858 – December 13, 1930) was a New York editor of Joseph Pulitzer’s Evening World. He was convicted of the murder of his wife and sentenced to a 20-year-to-life term in Sing Sing prison. Career Chapin was b ...

, editor of ''

New York Evening World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publ ...

'', popularly known as the "Rose Man of Sing Sing". *

Mary Frances Creighton Mary Frances Creighton (July 29, 1899 – July 16, 1936), was a housewife, who along with Everett Applegate, a 36-year-old former American Legion official, was executed in Sing Sing Prison's electric chair, Old Sparky, for the poisoning of Appl ...

, suspected serial killer, executed, along with Everett Applegate, in 1936. *

Monk Eastman Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875 – December 26, 1920) was a New York City gangster who founded and led the Eastman Gang in the late 19th and early 20th century; it became one of the most powerful street gangs in the city. His aliases included Jos ...

, New York gangster and leader of the

Eastman Gang The Eastman Gang was the last of New York's street gangs which dominated the city's underworld during the late 1890s until the early 1910s. Along with the Five Points Gang under Italian-American Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, best known as Paul Kell ...

, was sentenced to 10 years at Sing Sing in 1904. *

Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck Raymond Martinez Fernandez (December 17, 1914 – March 8, 1951) and Martha Jule Beck (May 6, 1920 – March 8, 1951) were an American serial killer couple. They were convicted of one murder, are known to have committed two more, and wer ...

, so-called Lonely Heart Killers, were both executed in 1951. * Albert Fish, early-20th century American serial killer, child rapist, and cannibal, executed in 1936. *

Paul Geidel Paul Geidel Jr. (April 21, 1894 – May 1, 1987) was the longest-serving prison inmate in the United States whose sentence ended with his parole, a fact that earned him a place in Guinness World Records. After being convicted of second-degre ...

, formerly, the longest-serving prison inmate in the United States whose sentence ended with his parole, who served 68 years and 296 days in various New York state prisons. *

Martin Goldstein Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein ( – June 12, 1941) was a member of a gang of hitmen, operating out of Brooklyn, New York in the 1930s, known as Murder, Inc. Born Meyer Goldstein, Goldstein grew up in East New York, Brooklyn, New York, and initi ...

and

Harry Strauss __NOTOC__ Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss (July 28, 1909 – June 12, 1941) was a prolific contract killer for Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. He reportedly killed over one hundred men (some historians put the number as high as 500)Carl Sifakis, ...

, hitmen and members of

, were both executed in 1941. * Mary Jones, a 19th-century

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

who was a center of media attention for coming to court wearing feminine attire. * Leroy Keith, serial killer, executed in 1959. *

Fritz Julius Kuhn Fritz Julius Kuhn (May 15, 1896 – December 14, 1951) was a German Nazi activist who served as elected leader of the German American Bund before World War II. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1934, but his citizenship was can ...

, German former leader of the

German American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FoN ...

, incarcerated at Sing Sing various times between 1939-1945 and deported to Germany. *

Angelo LaMarca Peter Weinberger (June 2, 1956 - July 12, 1956) was a one-month-old infant who was kidnapped for ransom on July 4, 1956, in New York state. The case gained national notoriety likely due to the circumstances of the kidnapping and the victim's ...

, convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Peter Weinberger, executed in 1958. *

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

, political activist and union leader sentenced to five to ten years in Sing Sing prison for "criminal anarchy" in 1919. *

, executed in 1963, became the last person executed in New York. * George C. Parker, infamous con man known for "selling" the Brooklyn Bridge. * John Roche, serial killer and rapist, executed in 1956. *

, executed in 1953 for conspiring to pass secrets of the American atomic bomb project to the

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. * Norman Roye, serial killer and rapist, executed in 1956. *

Hans Schmidt (priest) Hans B. Schmidt (1881Gado, Mark. 2006. ''Killer Priest: The Crimes, Trials, and Execution of Father Hans Schmidt.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood, p. 5. – February 18, 1916) was a German Catholic priest, rapist, convicted murderer, and suspected ...

, executed in 1916, was the only Roman Catholic priest executed in the United States. *

Tony Sirico Gennaro Anthony Sirico Jr. (; July 29, 1942 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri in ''The Sopranos''. He also made numerous appearances in the films of Woody Allen. Early life S ...

, actor known for his role as

Paulie Gaultieri Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Sirico on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'', one of the chief henchmen of series protagonist Tony Soprano. Sirico originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior ...

on the critically acclaimed television series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'', convicted of felony weapons possession and served 20 months of his four-year sentence at Sing Sing. *

Ruth Snyder Ruth Brown Snyder (March 27, 1895 – January 12, 1928) was an American murderer. Her execution in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison in 1928 for the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder, was recorded in a highly publicized photogr ...

, executed along with Henry Judd Gray in 1928, Snyder's execution was illegally photographed. *

Willie Sutton William Francis Sutton Jr. (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was an American bank robber. During his forty-year robbery career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escape ...

, career criminal who escaped December 11, 1932. *

Joseph Valachi Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited wit ...

, member of the

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...

, served his first prison sentence (of approximately one year) at Sing Sing before he was 20 years old. * Jon-Adrian Velazquez, serving a 25 years to life sentence after murder conviction, released in 2021. * Ferdinand Ward,

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

swindler who ran a New York City investment firm with

Ulysses S. Grant Jr. Ulysses S. "Buck" Grant Jr. (July 22, 1852 – September 25, 1929) was an American attorney and entrepreneur. He was the second son of President Ulysses S. Grant. Early life and education Grant was born in Bethel, Ohio, on July 22, 1852. He gra ...

, son of former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

, revealed to be a Ponzi scheme that bankrupted the Grant family in 1884. * Richard Whitney served a sentence for embezzlement at Sing Sing from 1938 until 1941. * Frederick Charles Wood, serial killer, executed in 1963.

References

External links

Facility Listing
–

"All about Sing Sing Prison" by Mark Gado
from The Crime Library
New York Corrections History Society

''Half Moon Press'', May 2000 issue
Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage
*
Tocqueville in Ossining
' – Segment from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

's ''

Alexis de Tocqueville Tour The ''Alexis de Tocqueville Tour'' was a series of programs produced by C-SPAN in 1997 and 1998 that followed the path taken by Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont through the United States during their 1831–32 visit. It explored man ...

''
C-SPAN's ''Inside the Sing Sing Prison'', June 6, 1997

Unedited footage from C-SPAN's Sing Sing documentary

Mug shots of prisoners and photos of the prison 1920–1941 (digitized images)
from the

Papers,

Lloyd Sealy Library The Lloyd George Sealy Library is the campus library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY). Located in Haaren Hall, the library specializes in criminal justice-related materials. Overview The Lloyd Sealy Li ...

Digital Collections
Sing Sing Prison Museum website
{{Coord, 41, 9, 6, N, 73, 52, 8, W, display=title 1828 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Westchester County, New York Prisons in New York (state) Capital punishment in New York (state)