The Sing Sing sanatorium
Subject(s): Capitalists and financiers, Criminals, Prisoners, Prisons, Punishment, Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Torture
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Prisoners engage in various recreations while incarcerated at Sing Sing for white collar crime. Caption: For the benefit of our grafting financiers whose health breaks down from exposure.
Comments and Context
This cartoon by J. S. Pughe was not inspired by the coddling of prisoners, a putative situation that is charged, or confirmed, in cycles. Sing Sing Prison was a periodic site that, perhaps due to its 40-mile proximity up the Hudson River from the media center New York City, was alternately scorned or praised by reformers for its conditions.
Rather, the inspiration for Puck’s center-spread was the great number of business titans who were running afoul of the law at this time. There were “high visibility” exposes, investigations, scandals, arrests, divorces, and even murders among high society, politicians, and especially leaders of the corporate world, politics, and the labor movement.
Cartoonist Pughe was largely speculating on a what a relatively seamless transition would look like (for in fact few of the men convicted in the press went to prisons) if their settings changed from comfortable clubs to comfortable jails.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-03-07
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The Sing Sing sanatorium. [March 7, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278518. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. The Sing Sing sanatorium. [7 Mar. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278518.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1906, March 7]. The Sing Sing sanatorium.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278518.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
