Eastern Railroad Discussion > Sing Sing Prison

As far as I know, Metro North's Hudson Line is the only railroad who's tracks run right through a prison complex, so did New York Central back in the day make stops with in the prison to drop off newly arrived inmates? Also heard the NYC at one time had prison cars for transporting inmates to prison. Anyone got pictures of them or do any prison cars survive in musuems?

Posted from iPhone

Yes. One of their WW-I era EMU's was a prison car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/23 11:37 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Yes. One of their WW-I era EMU's was a prison car.

And do I recall correctly that at one time there was a secure siding for prisoner transport?

The following, however, is not an authentic prisoner transport railcar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhpIxcswWg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/23 12:37 by toledopatch.

Slightly off topic but related...

The Swiss use a jail train to transport prisoners. Based on you tube video I watched, it runs daily. If you search on line you'll find news articles and videos about it

Posted from Android

Doesn't Jefferson City MO have a prison right next to the tracks?  Abandoned now, but back in the day=?

A little off topic, but we discussed military prisoners here:  Leavenworth, KS (pt 4) (trainorders.com) 
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/23 16:38 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> A little off topic, but we discussed military
> prisoners here:  Leavenworth, KS (pt 4)
> (trainorders.com) 
>  

Your good! Its related to the discussion

Posted from iPhone

march_hare Wrote:
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> Doesn't Jefferson City MO have a prison right next
> to the tracks?  Abandoned now, but back in the
> day=?

Yes, the former State Penitentiary was right above the Missouri Pacific main line (today the UP Jefferson City Subdivision) from St. Louis to KC, and on the bluff above the Missouri River. Interestingly, it was just a few blocks east of the State Capitol and Governor's Mansion in the heart of the city, with the walls coming right up to sidewalks on residential streets. I always found that a bit spooky.

I do not know for sure if there was a special siding on the MP main for handling prisoners. But some exploration around the site area several years ago from an adjacent city park area, and with a view of the prison's north walls facing the river and the tracks below, revealed structures that seemed to suggest that there were. In addition to an area which looked like a coal delivery siding for the prison's power plant.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/23 17:46 by ironmtn.

Somewhat related, but the State of Colorado has quite a few Correctional Facilities in the Canon City Area along the ex DRGW Tennessee Pass Main that are pretty much right next to a few of them. 

Colorado Territorial Penitentiary is located at the west end of Canon City along US50 and within 100-300 Feet of the Main and siding here. If on the Royal Gorge Train, one passes  it.

Fremont Correctional Facility is abit farther east, between Canon and Florence and is right along the grounds here as well. When I was a guard at FCC as it's called, the bottom end of the grounds pretty much went right up against the ballast thru the area. The Apple Orchards were down here. As was part of the states Wild Horse Program grounds. I recall a few times while working, when a escape had happened, the Search Teams would be out along the tracks all through here. Lot's of hiding places back in there, but one had to be aware of the Bears that loved the fermented apples that fell on the ground. On patrols in trucks back thru here, we would always find a couple of, well, drunk bears laying around.

Not sure if Colorado had means to transport Prisoners or not to some of these location, Territorial would be the most likely candidate tho.  Ben

The California State Men's Colony northwest of San Luis Obispo is close enough to the Gold Tree horseshoe on the ex-SP Coast Line that railfans visiting the latter with cameras have been known to get visits from prison personnel.

The UP line south of Las Vegas NV near Jean also passes (passed?) a correctional facility.

I was visited by a friendly team of corrections officers as I waited. For a train.

Posted from Android

Hasn't the Cardinal taken prisoners to or from the federal prison in Alderson, WV in the past? I thought I remembered hearing something about that a while ago.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The UP line south of Las Vegas NV near Jean also
> passes (passed?) a correctional facility.
>
> I was visited by a friendly team of corrections
> officers as I waited. For a train.

Now that I think about it, the parallel ex-Frisco and ex-MP lines west out of St. Louis both run across the street from a local correctional facility (not sure if it's a state prison or a county jail) near Pacific, Mo.
 

Here in Leavenworth Kansas, with 3 different prisons, 1 Federal, 1 state, 1 military, I have found through the NEWSPAPERS.COM of a few prison train moves into all 3. The longest travel was from some army base in New Jersey to the Army prison, several cars with the CRIP taking it from Chicago to Fort Leavenworth. Oklahoma Territory contracted with the state of Kansas to house convicts that were found guilt of breaking territorial laws, while people convicted of federal crimes came to the Federal prison. The local paper would daily give updates on who arrived and left the KSP and USP, not a lot out of the military prison. The MKT had a prison car that made the news here a couple of times a month in hauling people to the local prisons, with their "prison car #10". Also another movement was from Fort Riley to Fort Leavenworth with a handful of inmates, with them riding a McKeen car from Lawrence to Leavenworth. The ATSF ran west of the prison, while the UP used a spur off the old LK&W going into the west end, later going into the east side with a narrow gauge engine on dual gauge track. I would think most prisons would have some trackage to reach the prisons account of the amount of products that were used, also to transfer inmates when needed. KCRW287

The US Army maintained a prison at Fort Dix NJ for many years.

Posted from Android

toledopatch Wrote:
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>
> Now that I think about it, the parallel ex-Frisco
> and ex-MP lines west out of St. Louis both run
> across the street from a local correctional
> facility (not sure if it's a state prison or a
> county jail) near Pacific, Mo.

Correct. It is a state prison, the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. It is located directly opposite the UP ex-MP [CP] Dozier crossovers east of Pacific, Mo., between Allenton to the east and Pacific to the west.. As noted, it's right along both the ex-MP and ex-SLSF, which run closely parallel there. Also on Historic Route US 66, which runs next to the tracks right in front of the facility.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/23 21:03 by ironmtn.

And, my dear friend MC, don't forget about Algoa Farms, east of Jefferson City, a "reformatory" in its day.

MAB

mopac1978 Wrote:
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> And, my dear friend MC, don't forget about Algoa
> Farms, east of Jefferson City, a "reformatory" in
> its day.
>
> MAB

Absolutely correct. Algoa Correctional Center, right next to the UP ex-MP Jefferson City Sub, not far east of Jeff City. With a National Guard post adjacent, and a Highway Patrol station down the road at the US 50 junction, too. There's a pretty good curve there on the track, but I always felt uncomfortable around there, despite zero police record to worry about. There always seems to be plenty of law enforcement or military types moving around there to make it feel less than welcoming.

And as long as we're on the subject, the ex-MP UP has another "big house" on its line every bit as famous (infamous?) as Sing-Sing. The Menard Correctional Center, just outside Chester, Ill. on the Chester Sub, and Illinois' largest maximum security facility. The railroad goes right in front right on the east bank of the Mississippi, with the sally port for entry just across the road. The MP goes from double track to single track right there at Menard Jct. just a hundred yards or so south of the prison, and just north of the Mississippi River bridge. The prison is even famous in the movies. That's where Dr. Richard Kimball was bound for in the film The Fugitive. That spectacular train derailment sequence that sprung him free was, however, filmed in North Carolina.

Good to see you post again. You and I have both burned some Kodachrome frames and pixels there on trains around Chester, haven't we? And not far from Dozier and Algoa, too.

If there were some kind of ranking list for railroads which closely went right past major prisons (does Guinness have one?), I think the ex-MP might rank pretty high.

MC

Sing Sing also received prisoners delivered by barge when the prison opened in the 1820s.

Posted from Android

Getting back to Jefferson City, I can't escape the irony of a building that houses criminals being directly adjacent to a building that houses politicians.  Efficiency at work?