Sing Sing: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Alternative meaning: Sing Sing (band)

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a prison in Ossining, New York. The name comes from the original name of the village of Ossining.

It was the third New York prison built, when in 1825, the legislature appropriated $20,100 to buy the Silver Mine Farm, a 130-acre site with a quarry. The prison was to be self-supporting, and not require taxpayer funding.

Elan Lynds, warden of Auburn (the second New York prison), took 100 Auburn convicts to the site, and used them to build the prison from the ground up.

Other notable wardens besides Lynds were Lewis E. Lawes and Thomas Mott Osborne.

Harris A. Smiler was the first person executed by electrocution at Sing Sing on July 7, 1891. From 1914 until 1971, only the electric chair at Sing Sing was used for executions.

On January 8, 1983, a riot began with 600-plus inmates in B-block taking 17 correction officers hostage and ended 53 hours later.

Notable prisoners

• The Rose Man, a former New York City newspaper editor doing life for murder
• Albert Fish, a serial killer and cannibal
• Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, convicted spies of the Soviet Union.
• William H. Van Schaick, captain of the General Slocum responsible for the worst maritime accident in New York's history.