Condemned

Christianson

Description

In the annals of American criminal justice, two prisons stand out as icons of institutionalized brutality and deprivation: Alcatraz and Sing Sing. In the 70 odd years before 1963, when the death sentence was declared unconstitutional in New York, Sing Sing was the site of almost one-half of the 1,353 executions carried out in the state. More people were executed at Sing Sing than at any other American prison, yet Sing Sing''s death house was, to a remarkable extent, one of the most closed, secret and mythologized places in modern America.

In this remarkable book, based on recently revealed archival materials, Scott Christianson takes us on a disturbing and poignant tour of Sing Sing''s legendary death house, and introduces us to those whose lives Sing Sing claimed. Within the dusty files were mug shots of each newly arrived prisoner, most still wearing the out-to-court clothes they had on earlier that day when they learned their verdict and were sentenced to death. It is these sometimes bewildered, sometimes defiant, faces that fill the pages of Condemned, along with the documents of their last months at Sing Sing.

The reader follows prisoners from their introduction to the rules of Sing Sing, through their contact with guards and psychiatrists, their pleas for clemency, escape attempts, resistance, and their final letters and messages before being put to death. We meet the mother of five accused of killing her husband, the two young Chinese men accused of a murder during a robbery and the drifter who doesn''t remember killing at all. While the majority of inmates are everyday people, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were also executed here, as were the major figures in the infamous Murder Inc., forerunner of the American mafia. Page upon page, Condemned leaves an indelible impression of humanity and suffering.

Sujets

• Prison
• États-Unis
• History of the Americas
• USA
• Histoire

Informations

• Publié par: NYU Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814723807
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Acclaim for Scott Christianson’s C O N D E M N E D

“A haunting gallery of death house ephemera.”

—t h e i n d e p e n d e n t

“This is a rare book—haunting fragments from the lives of men and women on their way to the electric chair. A moving and troubling epitaph for the guilty and perhaps the innocent.” —k e n n e dy,w i l l i a m author ofIronweed

“A stunningly brutal look at the death penalty and the way it was carried out in ‘the most famous prison in the world.’” —m e t rol a n d

“Simply by presenting excerpts from the state’s own internal files, this book offers some of the most compelling evidence against the death penalty.” —c u om o,m a r i o former Governor of NewYork

“This should be read by death penalty opponents and proponents alike. The humanity of those condemned can no longer be hidden nor should the inhumanity of some of their keepers.” —j u s t i c i a

“A haunting experience. Combining the clinical virtuosity of an exhumation with the fasci- nation of an archeological dig, it delivers a powerful intellectual message about the death penalty. Among the most vicious features of capital punishment are the veils of secrecy and forgetting with which we shroud the rituals of execution.Condemnedtears away those veils and makes us take a hard, cold look at the human realities they try to hide.” —m s t e r da m,a n t h on y g. a Professor of Law at NewYork University School of Law

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C O N D E M N E D I n s i d e t h e S i n g S i n g D e a t h H o u s e

S C O T T C H R I S T I A N S O N

a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS NewYork and London

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS NewYork and London

© 2000 by Scott Christianson All rights reserved

First published in paperback in 2001.

Grateful acknowledgment is made of permission to reproduce two letters from the following: Robert and Michael Meeropol,We AreYour Sons:The Legacy of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1975).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Christianson, Scott. Condemned: inside the Sing Sing death house / Scott Christianson. p. cm. ISBN 0-8147-1596-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8147-1616-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Death row inmates—United States. 2. Sing Sing Prison. 3. Ossining Correctional Facility. I.Title. HV8699.U5C4 1999 365'.6—DC21 00-6819 CIP

NewYork University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Jonathan E. Gradess

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C o n t e n t s

Acknowledgments Introduction Sing Sing Death House Arrival Rules Guards Shrinks Ties Cases Clemency Escape Attempts Stay The Letter Thursday The Chair Witness Resistance Remains Settling Up Prisoners Legally Executed at Sing Sing Prison About the Author

ix 1 10 16 20 42 48 52 58 70 80 86 96 104 114 118 120 126 132 138 147

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A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

This project would not have been completed without the generous assistance of sev- eral individuals, organizations, and agencies. Two colleagues were immensely helpful from the early stages: Tom Rocco provided professional assistance with photography, and Audrey Bennett Steinhauer handled artistic direction. Without their painstaking, dedicated, and talented work, this project might havefloundered. Others who offered valuable input included Tamar Gordon, Kelly and Scott Whitney, Peter Christianson, Serena Furman, Caroline Tauxe, Craig Watters, Leonard T. Perlmutter, Jenness Cortez, William Kennedy, Nikki Smith, Myron and Jetta Gordon, Tony and Carol Archambault, Barbara Millstein, Peter Galassi, Michael Magraith, Avery Lozada, John J. Poklemba, Ronald Tabak, Michael Whiteman, Kate Burgess, David Hess, Chuck Cul- hane, Bell Gale Chevigny, H. Bruce Franklin, and Aaron Carlos. Additional help was received from Jonathan E. Gradess, Charlie O’Brien, Barbara Baggott, Mardi Craw- ford, Barbara Ryn, and Terry Bobear, and from capital defenders Jed Stone, Russell Neufeld, and Barry Fisher. I especially appreciate the feedback I received from the following board members of the NewYork Death Penalty Documentation Project: James Acker, Anthony Amster- dam, Hugo Adam Bedau, Bill Bowers, Judge John Carro, Deborah Denno, Richard Dieter, Bishop Howard Hubbard, George Kendall, David Lewis, and Diann Rust-Tier- ney. Assistance was also provided over the years from Dr. James Folts, Dr. EdWeldon, Larry Hackman, ChristineWard, David Ladanye, and John Schoolfield of the NewYork State Archives and Jim Corsaro of the NewYork State Library. Special thanks to editor Eric Zinner and his colleagues and staff, especially Daisy Hernandez, Despina Papa- zoglou Gimbel, Elyse Strongin, and JeffHoffman at NewYork University Press. This work does not necessarily represent the views of the persons and organizations noted, and the author is solely responsible for its content.