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Auburn system

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Sing Sing

Maximum-security prison in Ossining, New York

For other uses, see Sing Sing (disambiguation).

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison[2] 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,[3] 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.[4] The total abolition of capital punishment in New York occurred in 2007.

The name "Sing Sing" derives from the Sintsink Native American tribe from whom the New York colony purchased the land in 1685,[5] 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.[6&

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As warden and agent, Elam Lynds was too busy trying to make the prison pay for itself; he believed that the prison should be self-supporting through the labor of convicts and even show a profit to the State. Every other philosophy, reformation of the offender, the development of saleable skills and the habits of industry and sobriety were considered to be secondary aims of imprisonment.

Under Lynds' direction and with his approval, convicts were placed under a stern and coercive system known as the silent system or "Auburn System" in order to get work done. The highly structured, no-nonsense approach was satisfactory economically, but theologians and interested citizens were disturbed by the most striking feature of the system - the physical cruelty to the convicts - for the lash was often used to enforce discipline.

Elam Lynds (sketch above) was a key figure both in developing what became known as the Auburn System and in exporting it beyond Auburn. He had begun his correction career as a staff member at Auburn prison when it opened in 1817 and rose to become its warde

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Abstract

 

This research examines discipline methods and architectural design in New York and Pennsylvania prisons from 1820 to 1840. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Cesare Beccaria discussed Enlightenment-era punishments. Benjamin Rush and William Bradford framed prison discussions through American ideals. After New York and Pennsylvania replaced most capital punishment with hard labor and solitary confinement, legislatures erected their first prison systems. New York constructed the Auburn and Sing Sing Penitentiaries, and Pennsylvania established the Eastern and Western Penitentiaries. The two systems embodied the principles of European and American reformers. Both instilled discipline and control. Auburn Penitentiary’s Warden, Elam Lynds, believed corporal punishment, silence, and labor enforced discipline. In Philadelphia, John Haviland’s prison design, rooted in Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, maintained constant surveillance to impose discipline and gave inmates a chance to interact with God. This paper examines how prison systems emerged from religious and philosophical id

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