Announcement: John Jay Exhibit / Symposium

EVENT
Documentary Photography Exhibit:

CONDEMNED
A DOCUMENTARY ODYSSEY THROUGH
NEW YORKS SING SING DEATH HOUSE

DATES:
March 13 - April 7, 2000

PLACE:
CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice Atrium on ground floor of main building, opposite Library entrance

ADDRESS:
899 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10019

CONTACTS:
Dr. Scott Christianson, Curator
Jerry Capeci, John Jay Public Relations (212) 237-8628

DESCRIPTION: This event marks the premiere showing of a documentary photography exhibition that accompanies the recently published book, CONDEMNED: INSIDE THE SING SING DEATH HOUSE, published by NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS on March 10, 2000.

The traveling exhibit is curated by Albany author Scott Christianson, a member of the board of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty and longtime prison reformer. After the John Jay venue, it will continue to tour the United States.

Using official state documents that previously were not available to the public, the exhibit provides a glimpse of the death penalty as it actually existed inside the legendary Sing Sing Death House. The materials consist of photographs and other excerpts from official prison files kept in the New York State Archives, and objects on loan from the Warden Lewis E. Lawes collection at John Jay Colleges Lloyd George Sealy Library.

The purpose of the exhibit is to educate the public about the death penalty as it was administered by the State of New York during the 20th century. From 1891-1963 a total of 614 persons were legally executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, Westchester County--more than at any other prison in America. Capital punishment in New York was reinstituted in law in 1995.

Some early reviews have included the following: "Gripping. I couldn't put it down."--Jimmy Breslin... "A rare book. Haunting fragments from the lives of men and women on their way to electric chair; a moving and troubling epitaph for the guilty and perhaps the innocent."--William Kennedy, author of Ironweed... "Simply by presenting excerpts from the states own files, this book offers some of the most compelling evidence against the death penalty."--Mario M. Cuomo... "It combines the clinical virtuosity of an exhumation with the fascination of an archaeological dig and delivers a powerful intellectual message about the death penalty."--Prof. Anthony Amsterdam, New York University Law School.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and graduate-level program with an annual enrollment of 11,200 students, many of whom are New York City police officers. The college will also hold a symposium on the death penalty on March 21.

The exhibit is free and open to the general public. Particulars about the symposium will be released as soon as they become available.

Exhibit Page

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