On Monday, April 2, at 7:30 PM, the Greater Astoria Historical Society
presents ‘Being Sent Up the River’ -- Origins of New York Penitentiaries
on the Hudson and East Rivers.’ The title of the talk says it all:
The remarks will provide an overview of the beginnings of the prison systems
of the state and city. The phrase “being sent up the river”
is usually associated with being sentenced to Sing Sing, situated in Westchester
on the Hudson. But it could equally have applied to the state's first
prison whose site was on the Hudson in what was then suburban Greenwich
Village and to the City Penitentiary at East River sites, first Bellevue
and then Blackwell’s Island.
Speaker Tom McCarthy is the Director of Historical Services of the NYC
Dept. of Correction and is the founder of the New York Correction History
Society. Tom, a life long Queens resident, has compiled an impressive
resume over several decades as a the Director of Communications for NYC
Dept. ofCorrections, as a public information spokesman for the Queens
District Attorney Office and as a legislative aide. Tom has also worked
as a reporter, editor, columnist with daily and weekly newspapers in the
metro area.
(The March lecture was cancelled by a snow storm and rescheduled for
April)
