Sing Sing (prison)

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The prison complex as viewed from Rockland Lake State Park

Sing Sing (officially Sing Sing Correctional Facility , colloquially Sing Sing ) is a state prison in Ossining , about 50 kilometers from New York City in the US state of New York .

The prison is classified in the US prison system as a " Maximum Security Prison ". In New York parlance, the prison is also known as Up The River because it is upstream of the Hudson River from the city . It was built by inmates in the 19th century (opened in 1826, completed in 1828). The name Sing Sing is derived from the Indian Sint Sinks , which means "stone on stone".

The prison now houses 2,300 prisoners and employs around 750 prison staff. Between 1891 and 1963 641 people were executed by the electric chair in Sing Sing , and in 1899 Martha M. Place was the first woman to be executed . The last execution took place in 1963 and was carried out on Eddie Mays . In addition to the now closed Alcatraz prison , Sing Sing is one of the best-known penal institutions in the USA.

Society and culture

Sing Sing became internationally known through the James Cagney films in the 1930s. The prison is also the subject of Michael Curtiz 's film 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932, with Spencer Tracy ). In 1972 the inmates were given a small memorial with the documentary film / concert recording Sing Sing Thanksgiving , with performances by, among others, Joan Baez and BB King .

In Orson Welles ' classic film, Citizen Kane , from 1941 , Charles F. Kane angrily shouts after Governor Jim Gettys that he will take him to Sing Sing . The prison is only mentioned in this scene; this shows how much it was feared if Sing Sing could be threatened.

In the film The Producers , the main characters end up in Sing Sing.

Sing Sing also appears in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's : The two main characters visit an inmate in one scene.

Known inmates

Some of the better known people who were imprisoned or executed in Sing Sing include:

prisoner annotation
Albert Anastasia Mafioso ; Murder, Inc.
Frank Abbandando Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1942
Martha Beck The Lonely Hearts Killers ; Executed in 1951
Louis Buchalter Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1944
Louis Capone Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1944
Monk Eastman Eastman Gang
Raymond Fernandez The Lonely Hearts Killers; Executed in 1951
Albert Fish Sex offenders and serial killers; Executed in 1936
Martin Goldstein Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1941
Fritz Julius Kuhn Head of the German-American Bund
James Larkin Trade unionists
Harry Maione Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1942
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Spies; Executed in 1953
Harry Strauss Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1941
Richard Whitney Investment bankers , stock market traders , brokers
Joe Valachi Pentito in La Cosa Nostra
Emanuel Weiss Murder, Inc .; Executed in 1944
Paul Geidel (1894-1987) was the longest incarcerated prisoner in the United States (1911–1980)

swell

  1. NYCHS excerpts: Mark Gado's 'Stone Upon Stone: Sing Sing Prison'
  2. ^ David J. Krajicek: Justice Story: New Yorker's prison term landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records . In: New York Daily News , January 14, 2012 , accessed April 14, 2014

literature

Web links

Commons : Sing Sing  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 9 ′ 5 ″  N , 73 ° 52 ′ 6 ″  W.