During his Feb. 15, 2006 appearance at the Ossining Public Library, David Goewey, the author of Crash Out: The True Tale of a Hell's Kitchen Kid & the Bloodiest Escape in Sing Sing History, mentioned guard towers when he spoke about growing up in Ossining as member of a "Correction family." His brother, father and grandfather were Sing Sing officers.

David said he remembered one of his chores as a youngster was to go Sing Sing with his older brother's lunch, walk outside the prison along the wall to a point below the guard tower.

His brother would lower a basket into which young David would place the lunch and then the basket would be hauled up. "When he was posted to tower," the author said, "my brother couldn't leave it even to get lunch, so lunch had to be brought to him."

David himself worked in a correctional setting for about a year and a half. He taught in the NYC DOC inmate education program on Rikers Island -- at OBCC, GMDC & AMKC detention facilities there -- from early 2001 to late summer 2002.

For an excerpts presentation of his book, click its title here: Crash Out: The True Tale of a Hell's Kitchen Kid & the Bloodiest Escape in Sing Sing History.

The Tower image from promo card for Ron Arons' lecture The Jews of Sing Sing at Temple
Emanu-El


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NYCHS board member Judy Berdy, who is administrator at the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, suggested NYCHS website readers might be interested in the subject matter of Ron Arons' April 25 lecture sponsored by the Bernard Museum of Judaica & Stettenheim Library at Temple Emanu-El.

Judy also is president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society.

This presentation is a follow-up on her suggestion.

Elizabeth F. Stabler, Temple Emanu-El librarian, provided the photo postcard announcing the lecture.

Ron Arons, who designed the postcard, took the photos of the guard tower and Cell Block A. He credits the "illustrations of the various tortures" and the electric chair photo to "the Ossining Community Center."

The format for this web presentation was designed by the NYCHS webmaster whose own research notes appear on the left below the image.