Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York, United States. It is about 30 miles (48 km) north of Midtown Manhattan on the east bank of the Hudson River. It holds about 1,700 inmates as of 2007, and housed the execution chamber for the State of New York for a period, with the final execution there occurring in 1963; instead Green Haven Correctional Facility had the execution chamber by the late 20th century, before the total abolition of capital punishment in New York in 2007. The name "Sing Sing" derives from the Sintsink Native American tribe from whom the New York colony purchased the land in 1685, and was formerly the name of the village. In 1970, the prison's name was changed to Ossining Correctional Facility, but it reverted to its original name in 1985. There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a period museum. The prison property is bisected by the Metro-North Railroad's four-track Hudson Line.