Sing Sing

Any studying criminal issues or crime will find SING SING: THE INSIDE STORY OF A NOTORIOUS PRISON engrossing: in 1825 a hundred mute convict-laborers constructed a new maximum-security prison near a village on the Hudson called Sing Sing, working for five years to create what would become the world's most notorious prison. Denis Brian's history of that prison documents its inhumane treatments and uses extensive research from original sources to document its evolving conditions from the 19th century to modern times. Involving and eye-opening. Diane C. Donovan, Editor California Bookwatch

Author Denis Brian has written a very interesting history of the notorious prison we all have heard about, but seldom have had the chance to read about. The atmosphere of a prison depends on the warden, or superintendent, as he or she would now be called, that is at the helm of the institution. Sing Sing's first and most brutal warden, Elam Lynds, treated the inmates under his charge as subhuman with brutal punishments for petty offenses such as smiling. Individuals such as Lynds let their authority go to their head and sadistically enjoyed punishing the prisoners. Guards were given authority to punish as they saw fit as well. All too often this authority was abused. Thankfully, more civil wardens such as Thomas Osborne and Lewis Lawes came along and treated the inmates as human beings and ended up having less difficulties with discipline. Ample coverage is given to various inmates such as Lepke Buchalter and Martha Beck along with the Rosenbergs (Julius and Ethel) and now they, and others reacted when their date came with the electric chair. Ample coverage is also given to Charles Chapin, "The Rose Man of Sing Sing." I didn't realize a railroad ran through the prison and that President Abraham Lincoln rode through it twice, the second time in his coffin. The book is approximately 250 pages long with a lot of information packed into it. If you enjoy books on prisons or reading about infamous characters and their place of incarceration you will find this an enjoyable and informative book.