Sing Sing Prison Case Files of Incarcerated Individuals Sentenced to Electrocution

Chronological by date of execution.

This series consists of case files of incarcerated individuals sentenced to electrocution at Sing Sing Prison. Files contain warrants of execution; investigation reports (personal and criminal history); receipts for, and replies to, notice of appeal (if filed); correspondence regarding writing and visiting privileges; FBI records of past offenses; Sing Sing admission forms, including medical examination and psychologists' examination reports; certifications of execution of death sentence, including post-mortem reports; and outgoing reports with detailed information on the remains of the executed individual.

Warrants of execution contains information related to where the defendant was tried; date of trial; name of judge and court; name of defendant and known aliases; charge, date and place of sentencing; sentence; scheduled date of execution; place of execution; date warrant was issued; and the signatures of the presiding judge and court clerk.

Investigation reports include the case number; investigator's name; supervisor's name; record officer's name; defendant's name; known aliases; codefendants' names; offense; plea; trial; what the individual was indicted for; indictment number; date filed; date of conviction; date of sentence; previous court record (date, offense, court, disposition); abstract of complaint and indictment; description of offense by investigator; mitigating and aggravating circumstances; attitude of complainant; analysis of defendant's environment (personal history, education and early life, family and neighborhood, industrial history); analysis of personality (physical and mental, character and conduct); and synopsis.

Sing Sing admission forms consists of a front and side view photograph of the incarcerated individual; name; number; color; sex; fingerprints; signature and address; age; birthdate; height; weight; physical characteristics; birthplace; nationality; citizenship status; occupation; marks; habits or peculiarities; parole data (crime, county, court, judge, sentenced, received, jail time, term, criminal act); codefendant(s); and preview record.

In cases where the incarcerated individual was a naturalized citizen, a noncitizen crime report may be included in the files. This record was provided by the Commissioner of Immigration's office and contains their correct name, alias, consecutive number, sex, color, marital status, children, birthdate, birthplace, date entered U.S., place of entry, how entered, crime convicted of, court, place, sentence, previous crime and sentences, documents of identity, relatives in U.S. and other countries, and remarks. Many case files also contain a report of a psychologist's examination conducted at Sing Sing. These reports provide the consecutive number, date of admission, name, date of examination, examiner, age, mental age, IQ, school grades completed, scholastic achievement, educational age, test results (language, alphabetical, classification, type, educational examination, school limit capacity), comments on text findings (army alpha standard, performance level, work capacity), impression, outlook, and suggestions.

All files contain certification of the execution of the death sentence, containing the name and number of the executed individual, date of death, time, cause, physician's signature, a list of witnesses attending the execution, and a post-mortem report stating the condition of the vital organs at the time of death. In addition to the post-mortem report, the files include an outgoing report containing detailed information on the remains of the executed person and applications for removal of their body to the place of burial. These were usually filed by the funeral home making the burial arrangements. The application contains the name of the undertaker, city permit number, place of business, name of the deceased, death date, site, present location of body, person requesting the funeral home to retrieve the body, address, relationship to deceased, and site where remains will be removed to.

In addition to these records, a number of other documents may be found in the case file including a record of the names, addresses, and relationships of people allowed to visit the incarcerated individual; the names of those who did visit the prison and when; correspondence to and from the warden of Sing Sing concerning the attendance of executions; and notifications to the incarcerated individual that their appeals have failed and they will be executed.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

21832 Department of Correction Incarcerated Individuals Execution Files contains case files for people executed for capital crimes, most of whom were executed at Sing Sing Prison.

Series is partially restricted; records exempted from disclosure by specific statutes have been identified and filed separately.