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46-463: Steve Grey is a hotshot New York newspaper reporter specializing in murder. When a crooked businessman named Halford is murdered, Steve pins the blame on the dead man's associate, Henry Mander, theorizing that Halford was killed by a rifle from a shooting gallery across the street. Mander is arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Steve visits his father, who is depressed because his business has been ruined. The hard-working, hard-drinking Steve

92-407: A change in societal perceptions of incarcerated individuals. 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

138-522: 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 once paroled. Its impact on social and institutional behavior was formally evaluated by the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, in collaboration with

184-607: 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 on June 19, 1953, for espionage for the Soviet Union on nuclear weapon research; and Gerhard Puff on August 12, 1954, for the murder of an FBI agent. The last person executed in New York state was Eddie Lee Mays , for murder, on August 15, 1963. In 1972,

230-426: 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. The expression "up

276-531: A prison on Mount Pleasant, near (and thus named after) a small village in Westchester County named Sing Sing, whose name came from the Wappinger ( Native American ) words sinck sinck , which translates to 'stone upon stone'. In March 1825, the legislature appropriated $ 20,100 to purchase the 130-acre (0.53 km ) site, and the project received the official stamp of approval. Lynds selected 100 inmates from

322-471: A profit for the state. By October 1828, Sing Sing was completed. Lynds employed the Auburn system , which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other punishments. John Luckey, to get Lynds removed the prison chaplain around 1843, reported his actions to New York Governor William H. Seward and the president of the board of inspectors, John Edmonds. Luckey also created

368-517: A religious library in the prison, with the purpose of teaching correct moral principles. In 1844, the New York Prison Association was inaugurated to monitor state prison administration. The Association was made up of reformers interested in the rehabilitation of prisoners through humane treatment. Eliza Farnham obtained a position in charge of the women's ward at Sing Sing largely on the recommendation of these reformers. She overturned

414-507: A version of a common cat-o'-nine tails whip to be used in the Auburn Prison. Lynds' version of the whip included a "cow-hide handle, eighteen inches long and wound with leather, with six hemp or flax strands that were twelve to fifteen inches long," and "saturated in shoemaker's wax, the weight of which increased the severity of the blows." In 1839 a prisoner died from neglect and over-flogging. The committee of Auburn and other staff members of

460-574: Is about 30 miles (48 km) north of Midtown Manhattan on the east bank of the Hudson River . It holds about 1,700 inmates and housed the execution chamber for the State of New York until the abolition of capital punishment in New York in 2007. The name "Sing Sing" derives from the Sintsink Native American tribe from whom the New York colony purchased the land in 1685, and was formerly

506-407: 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. In total, 614 men and women – including four inmates under federal death sentences – were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing until the abolition of the death penalty in 1972. After a series of escapes from death row,

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552-417: Is to tell his editor that he's got his biggest story ever. Writing for The Spectator , Graham Greene praised Tracy's acting, describing his portrayal of Steve Grey as "as certain as a mathematical formula" and noting that the scene of confrontation between Grey and Henry Mander (portrayed by Harvey Stephens) gave Tracy the chance "of showing the reserve of power behind the ease". According to MGM records

598-416: Is urged by Mary, a gossip columnist who loves him, to take some time off. Another colleague, Shorty, arrives to tell Steve that their editor wants an exclusive interview with Mander in prison. He goes to Sing Sing to conduct the interview. Driven by guilt, Steve shocks everyone by confessing to having committed the murder himself, as revenge for Halford and Mander having ruined his father. Steve's last act

644-476: The Auburn Theological Seminary petitioned to bring the issue of the punishments to the State government. "The law stated that six blows on the naked back with the 'cat' or six-stranded whip was the most punishment that could be assigned for any one offense." In 1846 another meeting was congregated to abolish the use of whips. Flagellation could only be used for riots or severe cases. When whipping

690-520: The New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds , warden of Auburn Prison and a former United States 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 on the banks of the Hudson River . By May, Lynds had decided to build

736-533: The New York system and Congregate system ) is a penal method of the 19th century in which prisoners worked during the day in groups and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. The silent system evolved during the 1820s at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York , as an alternative to and modification of the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement, which it quickly replaced in

782-717: The vaudeville presentations and concerts, were funded through revenue from paid attendance. Tim Mara , the owner of the New York Giants , 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 . In 1935,

828-478: The 19th century. The goal of this system was to instill good work habits and ideas of industry that were supposed to be rehabilitative. Tourists could visit the prison for a fee, adding to the prison's profits. Adults in the 1840s could visit for twenty-five cents, whereas children could enter for half the adult price. Prisoners were not allowed to speak or look at tourists during these visits. While tourists could watch prisoners as they worked, tourists did not witness

874-540: The Arts program is dramatized in the 2023 drama film Sing Sing , starring Colman Domingo alongside a cast of mainly real-life former inmates. 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

920-513: The Auburn prison for transfer and had them transported by barge via the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River 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. When it was opened in 1826, it was considered a model prison because it turned

966-484: The Auburn system were striped uniforms , lockstep , and silence. During the 19th century, prisoners had no rights nor any opportunity to live semi-comfortably. The Auburn system established several characteristics that were unique to the world of disciplinary conditions. Silence was the biggest factor among rules for the prisoners. John D. Cray, a deputy warden at the Auburn Prison, and Elam Lynds , agent and keeper, demanded that prisoners be completely silent to take away

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1012-468: 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 Rehabilitation Through

1058-531: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia 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, and the death penalty was reinstated and abolished in New York in various forms over subsequent years ), but the electric chair at Sing Sing remained. In

1104-458: The United States. Whigs favored this system because it promised to rehabilitate criminals by teaching them personal discipline and respect for work, property, and other people. Most unique about this system, and most important to it, however, was the fact that it was supported by state-funded capitalism and was driven by profit. Soon after its development, New York State adopted this system with

1150-462: The advertising of activities at the prison, including football games. On November 19, 1936, a new rule banned ticket sales. No revenues could come 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. Plans to turn

1196-564: The call the uniforms "'poison.'" In 1821 a new principal keeper, Elam Lynds, was appointed to run the prison. He believed in the disciplinary power of the lash , and used flogging to punish even minor infractions. According to historian Robin Bernstein, Lynds also prevented inmates from communicating with their families as a part of the severe practice of isolation within the Auburn System. To maintain discipline through whipping, Lynds created

1242-654: The day in the form of work. Some of these included making " nails , barrels , clothing , shoes and boots , carpets , buttons , carpenters ' tools, steam engines and boilers , combs , harnesses, furniture, brooms , clocks , buckets and pails, saddle trees...". During the 1840s, the prison began to produce silk using silk worms and trees. The Auburn correctional facility was the first prison to profit from prisoner labor. To ensure silence and to compel prisoners to work, agent Lynds, at first hired to oversee construction and command workers, used several methods of violence and coercion. The prison had many sightseers in

1288-424: The early 1970s, the electric chair was moved to Green Haven Correctional Facility in working condition, but was never used again. In 2013, Sing Sing Superintendent Michael Capra and NBC producer Dan Slepian worked with a group of 12 incarcerated men to start a program called "Voices From Within", created by Jon-Adrian Velazquez in an effort to "redefine what it means to pay a debt to society" Their first project

1334-561: The film earned $ 344,000 in the US and Canada and $ 202,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $ 184,000. This article about a 1930s crime drama film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York , United States. It

1380-618: The help of Elam Lynds , agent and keeper of Auburn Prison, for its third state prison, Sing Sing Prison . Several other states followed suit shortly after and adopted the for-profit prison system designed in Auburn. By 1829, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. adopted the Auburn system. Within the next fifteen years, the system was used in prisons in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Upper Canada, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan. Among notable elements of

1426-427: The lockstep as they performed it, 'stamping and gesticulating as if they were engaged in a game of romps.'" Lynds also instituted the notorious striped prison uniform in order to "break prisoners psychologically as well as physically." The clothing at the prison was a grayish material with horizontal stripes. During the intake process, each prisoner was stripped of their own clothing and belongings and forced to put on

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1472-467: The name of the village. In 1970, the prison's name was changed to 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. The prison property is bisected by the Metro-North Railroad 's four-track Hudson Line . Sing Sing was the fifth prison constructed by New York state authorities. In 1824,

1518-447: The prison uniform, sometimes new, but most often they were used and in poor shape. One African American prisoner who was incarcerated at Auburn Prison during the early nineteenth century, Austin Reed (author) , "called the outfit 'robes of disgrace.'" Reformers of the era, like Samuel Gridley Howe , also held disdain for the prison uniforms. Howe, an abolitionist and physician, went so far as

1564-578: 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. In 1931, new prison reforms permitted Sing Sing State Penitentiary prisoners to partake in recreation opportunities. The baseball and football teams, and

1610-410: The prisoners' "sense of self" and prevent solidarity from forming between the prisoners as they were forced to labor. When the "sense of self" was taken away, many convicts obeyed the warden's wishes. Prisoners were not allowed to speak to one another while at work, in line, or while in their cells. The second characteristic of the Auburn system was community activities during regimented times during

1656-498: 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 prison, which is located up the Hudson River from the city. The slang expression dates from 1891. 41°9′6″N 73°52′8″W  /  41.15167°N 73.86889°W  / 41.15167; -73.86889 Auburn system The Auburn system (also known as

1702-714: 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 in 1935. In 1932, "graduate" Jumbo Morano 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

1748-485: 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 in 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. Thomas Mott Osborne 's tenure as warden of Sing Sing

1794-500: The violence that took place to keep prisoners silent and keep them at work, since officers always made sure that tourists were not around when inflicting punishments such as whippings. Elam Lynds, in association with John D. Cray, developed a revolutionary system of transporting convicts within the prison. The prisoners marched in unison, and locked their arms to the convict in front of them. The prisoners had to look to one side, and were not allowed to look at guards or other inmates. This

1840-616: 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 , which established a set of national standards by which it judged every correctional facility. As of 2019 , 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

1886-419: Was "the yoke". The yoke used iron bars around the neck and arms of the prisoners. In the early days of the prison, women inmates were held in the windowless attic atop the high security prison. They shared a single room and slept in the same area where they worked, primarily at "picking wool, knitting, and spooling." In 1838 all women prisoners were transferred to the then-new female wing at Sing Sing . In 1892

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1932-506: Was a cause for wild celebration by the inmates. Another notable warden was Lewis Lawes . 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

1978-450: 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 (RTA) at Sing Sing, enabling theater professionals to provide prisoners with

2024-412: 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. During his time in Sing Sing he wrote his book Society and Prisons: Some Suggestions for a New Penology , which influenced the discussion of prison reform and contributed to

2070-413: Was called the "lockstep," which prisoners were forced to march in between every task and movement from one end of the prison to the other. Incarcerated men, however, resisted such forms of control in numerous ways, including passing notes, whispering, and even using ventriloquism to communicate with one another. According to historian Robin Bernstein, "some prisoners, particularly African Americans, parodied

2116-446: Was prohibited, guards and keepers sought new ways to punish the disorderly. "The shower bath consisted of a barrel about 4½ feet high with a discharge tube at the bottom. The prisoner was stripped naked, bound hand and foot, with a wooden collar around his neck to prevent him moving his head. The barrel, with the inmate inside, was placed directly under an outlet pipe, where water, sometimes iced, would pour down." Another form of punishment

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