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Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a well-known prison in New York, still in use with a population of 1,700 to 2,200 prisoners. The prison is named after the city it was built in, which later changed its name to Ossining. Sing Sing was built in 1825 and was made profitable for the state by using prison labor to mine rock. The prison’s early days were bleak, but major reforms were made in the 20th century. The phrase “to be sent up the river” is said to refer to Sing Sing, as prisoners were transported up the Hudson River to reach the prison.
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a famous prison located in New York. Besides Alcatraz, Sing Sing is probably the most iconic prison in the United States. This prison is still in use, with a population of 1,700 to 2,200 prisoners at any given time. It has played host to a number of notable lawbreakers, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Albert Fish, and a number of mobsters and gangsters from the 1930s to the present.
The prison is named after the city in which it was built, although the city of Sing Sing later changed its name to Ossining in hopes of avoiding association with the prison. The city originally got its name from a Native American phrase, sint sinks, meaning “stone upon stone,” presumably in reference to the large rock deposits in the area. The modern Ossining might be trying to avoid being connected to the prison, but it’s hard to miss, changing names or not.
Sing Sing was built in 1825 by Elam Lynds and a group of prisoners from Auburn Jail. The site was chosen deliberately, allowing the crew to mine natural rock from the area to build the structures, and many of Ossining’s structures are also built with rock mined by prisoners. Once the prison was established, the hope was that it could be made profitable for the state by using prison labor to mine rock and ship it up the Hudson River to a convenient location for sale, and this proved to be the case.
Sing Sing Correctional Facility’s early days were bleak. The prisoners lived under the Auburn system, which enforced solitary confinement at night, total silence on the part of prisoners, and brutal punishments for violators. Though these brutal measures were phased out in the 20th century, Sing Sing was still a forbidding place, housing the electric chair until New York State banned the death penalty. Today, the older cell blocks are no longer in use and there is talk of turning them into a museum.
Historically, prisoners worked hard and many ended up buried in the prison cemetery. A riot in 1861 led to major reforms, which continued into the 20th century, with substantial construction in the prison to make facilities such as a library, hospital, and so on available to prisoners.
Legend has it that the phrase “to be sent up the river” is a reference to Sing Sing, as prisoners were historically transported up the Hudson River to reach the prison.
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