Sing Sing, the infamous New York maximum-security prison, was built in 1825 and is still operational today.

When you think of Sing Sing, famous inmates like Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) come to mind.

Citizen Kane conjured up the famous prison when Charles Foster Kane chased his nemesis out of his mistress’s apartment, shrieking, “Gettys! I’m gonna send you to Sing Sing! Sing Sing, Gettys! Sing Sing!!!”

The cold-blooded Ruth Snyder and her luckless paramour Judd Gray were executed there. Check out A Cruel Murder to read more about them.

Yes, Sing Sing calls to mind many things, but none of them involve yarn arts and crafts, until you see this picture of the convicts knitting in 1915. Wouldn’t you love to see what they made?

Prisoners knitting in one of their classrooms, Sing Sing, circa 1915. (LOC)