Sing Sing Prison Museum Proposed

Officials in Westchester County in New York state want to create a museum at Sing Sing prison, which would draw tourists to the place where the Rosenbergs were electrocuted in 1953.

In the preliminary plans, the original cellblock, no longer in use, would be restored and used as a main attraction that visitors could access by traveling along a walkway over the prison’s stone walls and razor-wire fences.

County Executive Andrew Spano wants to see a Sing Sing Historic Prison Museum funded by the Empire State Development Corp. to bring economic development to the area along the Hudson River. He says the Sing Sing museum “would rival the popularity of Alcatraz,” which attracts 1.3 million visitors a year to its island location in the San Francisco Bay.

If approved, the Sing Sing museum would be constructed on the site of the still-working Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, which houses 1,745 prisoners.