Sing Sing Prison Exhibit & Museum | InOssining.com

Sing Sing Prison Exhibit & Museum

The Sing Sing Prison Exhibit is a small but interesting exhibit about the Sing Sing Prison. It’s located in the Ossining Heritage Center section of the Ossining Recreation Center (95 Broadway), next to the Old Croton Aqueduct Exhibit.

Ossining REC center Exhibit.

Ossining Heritage Center exhibits:
Down the River: Old Croton Aqueduct
Up the River: Sing Sing Prison

At the exhibit, you can see a replica of the Sing Sing electric chair.

“Prison staff found these inmate-made weapons during periodic searches of likely hiding places. Strings are often attached to hang the weapons out of sight. An inmate proven to possess a weapon can be locked up for 23 hours per day for up to a year in a special housing unit”

Sin Sing Prison Cell block
Sing Sing Prison cell blocks

The Sing Sing Prison Exhibit is small but filled with information. You can fly by and see everything in 5 minutes, or you can take your time and read all of the great informational posters that explain the history of one of the most famous prisons in America.

A New Museum

Sing Sing Prison Museum Logo

Historic Hudson River Towns is working with the New York State Department of Corrections, the Town and Village of Ossining, and multiple stakeholders to develop the Sing Sing Prison Museum. The major themes of the proposed museum will be the history of punishment in America and the creation and development of the penitentiary system and associated reform movements in America.

Sing Sing Prison is more than the stories of electric chairs, it is breaking from its past and leading the way in prison reform.

The museum will be a non-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. Exhibitions and programs will be located in the historic 1936 Powerhouse, a state-owned building located outside the present security wall of Sing Sing Correctional Facility (SSCF), which will continue to exist as a maximum-security correctional facility.

The Project for the new Sing Sing Prison Museum
Planners for the Sing Sing prison museum are targeting a 2025 opening, for the 200th anniversary of the state prison.

According to the Museum’s 2017 end of year summary, $2.875 million in state grants were received for capital improvements. $1 million of these funds can be used for Powerhouse preservation.
To be able to access the balance of these funds – $1.875 million – the Museum has to raise $625,000 from private sources. The state of New York will match three to every one dollar contributed by an individual, foundation or corporation.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund made the first contribution toward this goal and on Wednesday August 29, 2018, the Sing Sing Prison Museum Preview Center Kickstarter campaign was funded. The $30,000 goal was surpassed and when the campaign was over on 

 

How can you help to make this project a reality?

 

  1. Get informed. All you need to know about the Sing Sing Prison Museum is on their website (link here).
  2. Volunteer.  You can help on fundraisers, work on the website, archives, social media outreach and more. Just email singsingprisonmuseum@gmail.com if you’d like to help.
  3. Swing to the music of the Jazz Age, while cruising up the majestic Hudson River from Yonkers to “The Big House” in Ossining and back. Tickets are $175 per person for the 4-hour boat trip, live big band and dancing, open bar with New York cider, beer, wine and spirits, and a tasting menu featuring the Hudson Valley harvest.  The next boat trip is scheduled for November 18th, 2018 and you can get tickets on Eventbrite here.
  4. Donate. The funds raised will be used to create a Preview Center in the former Powerhouse at Sing Sing, soon to be the Museum’s home. You can donate directly via their website donation page here. And remember, every dollar you donate is actually worth four dollars, thanks to the state grants.
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