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Sing Sing Correctional Facility

Sing Sing Correctional Facility
Sing Sing as seen from Hook Mountain, across the Hudson River
Location Ossining, New York, United States
Status Active
Security class Maximum
Opened 1826 (completed in 1828)
Former name Ossining Correctional Facility
Managed by New York State Department of Correctional Services
Director

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, in the U.S. state of New York. It is located about 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City on the east bank of the Hudson River.

In 1970, the name of the facility was changed to "Ossining Correctional Facility" but, in 1985, it reverted to its original name. "Sing Sing" was derived from the name of a Native American Nation, "Sinck Sinck" (or "Sint Sinck"), from whom the land was purchased in 1685.

Sing Sing prison confines about 1,700 prisoners. There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a time specific museum.

The prison property is bisected by the Metro-North Railroad's four-track Hudson Line.

Sing Sing was the fifth prison built by New York State. The first prison, Newgate Prison, was built in 1797 in Greenwich Village and a second one in 1816 called Auburn State Prison.

In 1824, the New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds, warden of Auburn Prison and a former 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, located on the banks of the Hudson River.


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