Image of Page 6 of the March 1982 issue of NYC DOC's Inside Out tabloid-size newsletter.

This web page's images and texts were extracted from that newsletter issue's Page 6.

Rose Singer Webmaster Note: Click image for larger version. Use browser's "back" option to return to this page. “If we all went back to three basics, respect for the parent, the teacher and the police,” Rose Singer said, “I know this would be a better city to live in and a better world to live in too. Those ethics would have to change the climate of today.”

The pursuit of those ethics has been a hallmark of Mrs. Singer’s public service career in the service of many mayors, and there is no sign that Rose Singer has any intention of slowing down today. She remains the most visible of the eight members of the Board of Correction who work with the chairman, Peter Tufo.

“Years ago when my three children were in school and I had the time to look around, I decided that I wanted to do something constructive in the city,” Mrs. Singer said as she sipped tea during an interview. “My husband met Eleanor Roosevelt and Melvin Douglas and they discussed my ambitions. Citizens Union was suggested, and I was approached to work with them.

Signing Up A special task force, comprised primarily of members of the Rikers Island Training Academy staff, went into the streets late in 1981 to help attract recruits. Their efforts, combined with an advertising campaign conducted by the Office of Public Affairs and some strong telephone contact work from the Applicant Investigation Unit, led to one of the Department’s most successful recruiting campaigns in recent history, with more than 3,000 recruits expected to qualify for appointment. Top, Martha Charles hands brochure to passer-by in the Bronx. Bottom, Robert DeRosa and Mary Marion sign up an applicant as his young son looks on. Webmaster Note: Click image for larger version. Use browser's "back" option to return to this page.

“Let’s see, the Mayor was Fiorello LaGuardia. This was during the war years and I was young. Their offer seemed perfect, so I naturally accepted it.”

Their first office was at 99 Park Avenue and eventually the group were the first inhabitants of the City Hall basement. “We had a consumer services division, much the same as Consumer Affairs today,” she recalls. In fact, I think today’s agency is a spinoff of what we started years ago. “I became acutely aware that we needed such services to the public because prices were very high.

“You wouldn’t remember those days, but people sold apples on the street.” That hit me so hard. People had to know what they were doing with money, and how they could best utilize their funds. We gave courses in “How to Make a House a Home,” and we were the first group to start swap shops. We had one at the Henry Street Settlement and the other on Madison Avenue. They were very successful for those difficult times.”

After her involvement with the Citizens Union, Mrs. Singer became interested in the courts through her long-time friend, Anna Kross. “I was invited to sit with her in Magistrates Court which preceded the Family Court of today,” she said. “Then I was selected for jury duty.”

She paused and shook her head. “Jury duty in those days was shocking,” she continued. “Everyone sat around from 9:00 am. until evening not to be called. We were in this big room doing absolutely nothing.

“People lost money. The big pay for all of those hours was only $6.00 per day. As I sat there, I decided that I would prepare a study and eventually do a brochure on the courts and make an attempt to raise jurors’ pay.” She accomplished all of this in addition to having a film produced to orient prospective jurors in what would be expected of them. Another study on the Judiciary ended in another brochure called, “Toward Better Judges.” This brochure was widely acclaimed and copies were requested from courts nationally.

policy and procedure development, plan- ning for current and future needs of the department, coordinating the various components of the department, and de- veloping comprehensive rules, regu- lations, procedures and guidelines.” Goldman is an attorney with extensive experience in planning and research within the criminal justice system. He rose to the rank of captain with the New York City Housing Police before joining the Department of Correction at the urging of Commissioner Benjamin Ward, who came into contact with Gold- man when he was Housing Police Chief. “When we decided to form an In- spectional Services Division, we went for the best we could find,” Koehler said. “It didn’t take long for us to decide that Bob Goldman was our man.” As part of the department’s commit- ment to its newest division, Koehler and Goldman went about recruiting a strong staff from among candidates within the agency and both say they are very satis- fled with the personnel they have assem- bled. Second in command to Goldman is Deputy Warden James Hunter, who has been Deputy Warden for Security at the Brooklyn House of Detention for Men be- fore taking on his latest assignment. “It is easy to be a critic,” Goldman said recently in his new office at 100 Centre Street. “It is extremely difficult to per- 17 form. The Inspectional Services Division is not a group of ‘hotshots’ ready to crit- icize. “It is a group of highly-skilled and ded- icated individuals assigned the task of solving problems, not merely identifying them.” While the division will be available for assignments such as the one that fol- lowed the Brooklyn escape, the key to its success is likely to lie in more routine efforts and, ultimately, for the concept on ongoing operational audits to be under- taken at the institutional level. “One of the first major projects we have decided to undertake is the imple- mentation of a self-inspection procedure for utilization by individual commands,” Goldman explained. “This process will provide commanding officers with stan- dards for them to measure the level of performance and control within their areas of responsibility. Further—and more important—it will provide a tool for commanders to identify systems or procedures that need attention and it will enable them to effectuate changes.” The new Inspectional Services division has been structured by Koehler and Goldman in manner designed to keep its various missions from overlapping. It contains an inspections section, a special projects unit, a management directives and orders unit, and a fiscal audits unit. Commissioner Benjamin Ward said that establishment of such an ongoing effort at self-evaluation has long been a personal goal of his and he noted that such a practice already has a track record within the department. “It is popular today for those in the agency to point with pride at the dra- matic success achieved by our staff at ARDC,” the Commissioner said. “But I wonder how many of us recall that it was a field inspection and audit that began the turn-around at ARDC. We didn’t have an inspection unit in place then, so we formed an ad hoc team to do the job. But the concept was the same and the result is undeniable.” The exact complement of the In- spectional Services division will be de- termined as it begins to tackle its vari- ous tasks, Koehler said, but six members of the department share with Goldman and Hunter the distinction of being there first-—charter members, so to speak, of the newly-formalized exercise in self- evaluation. They include Assistant Dep- uty Wardens Robert Brennan, Harvey Pierce and James Rosas, Captains Patri- cia Thomas, Bruce Sullivan, Paul Cascio and Peter Kozack and Officers Arthur Rambert and Joan Codrington. “Our motto is Modern Methodology,” Goldman reports. “Our attitude is Can Do.”

Mrs. Singer received two degrees from Columbia University in Psychology, but her interest remained civic. “Eleanor Roosevelt was such a lovely woman, she was interested in young people. She inspired me.”

Through the Citizens Union, Mrs. Singer aimed more programs at the public. “Better Breakfast Week” and “Consumer Education Week” were part of her continuing effort in consumer education. Mrs. Singer formed Radio for Children and acted as its president to organizing the committee of Radio Council on Children’s Programs. She says, “It is just now, just today, that we are becoming aware of the linkage to violence and television viewing. Now, studies are being done all of the time to back this up.”

In 1957, Mayor Robert Wagner formed the first Board of Correction. Mrs. Singer was appointed and today she is the only original member of that board, lasting through five mayors.

Mrs. Singer is currently Chairperson of the Voluntary Advisory Council to the New York City Department of Correction; Chairperson of the Advisory Committee and Vice-chairperson of Friendly Visitors; Vice President of the Home Advisory and Service Council of New York, Inc.; Board Member and member of the Executive Committee of the Woman’s Prison Association and the Isaac T. Hopper Home; Secretary of Japan-American Institute of Culture; Member of City Club (one of the first women to be invited to join this club); Member of the National Board of Trustees, National Conference of Christians and Jews. That names only a few of her involvements today.

In addition, she finds time to attend every departmental ceremony and it is not unusual to see her engaged in deep conversation with an inmate at CIFW. She is fiercely interested in people, and that interest seems to have deepened over the years. Her written reports published in brochure form include, Special Terms of the Magistrates Court, Jury System Toward Better Judges and A Citizens Guide to Crime Control.

The walls of her study are lined with plaques and awards. The awards she covets most are The Handel Award of the City of New York, a citation from the Citizens Union of New York, an award from the National Recreation Association, and the Isaac T. Hooper award from the Women’s Prison Association. That award has only been given out twice. Prominently displayed is the Key to New York City and the Key to Tokyo. The latter was awarded to her because she organized and was a Vice-chairperson of the New York- Tokyo Sister Cities Committee.

Looking toward her future, Mrs. Singer’s calendar is blacked with engagements, meetings and commitments. “The most important thing,” she says, “Are our young people. The children. They must be taught by the parents, right from wrong, and we have to remove the stigma of incarceration. Rehabilitation is a need to resocialize, and we have to respect our elected officials. People need to make voices heard. The voices of voters. So I go back to the basics. The parent, where it begins, the teacher who takes over and of course, the law.”

Also visit on this site:

• Winter 1984 Inside Out issue.
• June 1985 Inside Out issue.