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Carlucci was joined for the announcement by Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, Historic Hudson River Towns, Sing Sing Prison Superintendent Michael Capra and numerous other officials.
For years, there has been a movement within the Ossining community for the development and construction of a Sing Sing Historic Prison Museum, with the primary artifact being the original 1825 cellblock. The interpretive focus of the museum will be the history of prisons in the United States, the creation and development of the penitentiary and associated reform movements in America, as seen through the lens of Sing Sing prison.
Interwoven with the narrative of penal theory and the practice of surrounding social and political contexts will be stories of individual inmates, keepers, reformers and critics.
The $100,000 secured in this year’s state budget by Carlucci will go toward hiring a historic preservation architect to prepare a historic assessment of the 1825 cellblock and the 1936 powerhouse to develop a set of plans and specifications for their preservation.
Historic Hudson River Towns has secured the services of world-renowned historian Brent Glass, director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, to assist with developing the request for proposals and feasibility study, as well as reviewing the governance documents and creating the plan for preserving the historic buildings on site to be used for the Museum.
Galef has also secured $1 million in Dormitory Authority funds, which will be used for the construction of the museum, using the preservation techniques as recommended.
Historic Hudson River Towns, a registered 501 (c)(3) organization has hosted fundraisers and collected private donations for the museum.
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