NEW YORK CORRECTION HISTORY SOCIETY 
UNVEILS 23 WEB PAGES (INCLUDING 150+ IMAGES)
TO MARK 'DECOMMISSIONING' OF ESSEX COUNTY'S 1868 JAIL 
IN ELIZABETHTOWN, OPENING OF NEW ONE IN LEWIS

In connection with the opening of the new Essex County Jail in Lewis, N. Y., in the autumn of 2007, the New York Correction History Society (NYCHS) has created a "virtual tour" of 
(a) the county's old jail building -- interior as well as exterior -- in Elizabethtown and 
(b) the old jail's pre-computer record keeping.

NYCHS has timed unveiling its virtual tour presentation to coincide with the planned Oct. 1, 2007, "decommissioning" of the Elizabethtown site. Decommissioning ceremonies were to include removing the county emblem and American flag from the old location and transferring them to the new facility in Lewis.

The starter page for the web presentation can be accessed from a large "Ledgers of NY's Essex County Jail" icon on the NYCHS home page: www.correctionhistory.org

The direct URL for the web presentation's starter page is:
http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/essex/oldjailtour.html

Among the subjects explored in the presentation's texts and images are: 
  a.. the Nov. 15, 1948 breakout of inmates William Moody and Edmund Hart that left jailor Earl Torrence dead from a brutal bludgeoning by Hart. 
  b.. Essex County's so-called "Chinese Jail" where the county housed federal immigration case detainees during the early 20th Century. 
  c.. stories of Essex inmates convicted of murder and executed. 
  d.. the number of children -- ages as young as 10 -- jailed. The occupations listed for the minors included "mining." 
  e.. how inmate accounts were kept with book entries and sales slips in the era long before computers.
NYCHS appreciates the help of Sheriff Henry Hommes' office, especially Jail Administrator Major Richard Cutting, in this presentation's preparation; NYS Correction Officer Joe Stickney's help in telling the story of his grand uncle Earl Torrence, and Essex County Historical Society director Margaret Gibbs' help in tracking down the so-called "Chinese jail." 

NYCHS is a Regents-chartered nonprofit historical society dedicated to the pursuit, preservation, and promotion of the histories of correctional services in New York -- city, state and county; governmental and nongovernmental.

Thomas C. McCarthy
general secretary/webmaster
NY Correction History Society (NYCHS)
www.correctionhistory.org
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