BOOKS and ARTICLES
Links are provided to descriptive reviews and book summaries. Readings are presented alphabetically by author.
Miracle at Sing Sing : how one man transformed the lives of America’s most dangerous prisoners. Ralph Blumenthal, 2004. On Warden Lewis Lawes. Review from the New York Times. Available at WLS.
Sing Sing: the Inside Story of a Notorious Prison, Denis Brian, 2005. Review from Publishers Weekly. Available at WLS.
NewJack: Guarding Sing Sing, Ted Conover, 2000. Review from the New York Times. Available at WLS.
Fifty Years in Sing Sing: 1879-1929, Alfred Conyes, 2015. Memoir of prison guard and “keeper”. Detailed review from the Canadian Criminal Justice Association. Available at WLS.
Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, Warden Lewis E. Lawes, 1942 Reviews from Goodreads. Available at WLS.
VIDEO
All titles are linked to online sources. Most recent sources listed first.
Sing Sing Historic Prison Museum (2014, 18min) – The video, which provides a rationale and plans for the prison museum, is dominated by a review of the institutions history and covers many key topics in a short time: construction, competing models of rehabilitation and reform, well-known inmates, the women’s prison, depictions in popular culture, media interest, and the electric chair.
Sing Sing Prison Documentary (1997, 68min) – C-Span documentary done as part of a series retracing the steps of Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1830 visit to America. Features Brant Kehn, First Deputy Superintendent & Historian.
1934 – Sing Sing Prison In The Old Days (1972, 4min) – This is the opening to a film on a 1972 concert at Sing Sing Prison that featured BB King and Joan Baez. The opening includes a sampling of historic images of Sing Sing’s construction, inmates, and cell-blocks through to the mid-20th century. Links to parts of the live performance can be found on YouTube.