Lawes, Lewis Edward (1883–1947)

US prison administrator and reformer, who was recognized as one of the USA's most liberal prison wardens. As warden of the notorious Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York (1920–41), he introduced extensive educational and recreational programs, transforming Sing Sing into one of the most progressive prisons of its time. He broadcast his reform message on the radio, wrote several books, and coauthored a prison melodrama that had a brief Broadway run. As pragmatic as he was humanitarian, he was an opponent of the death penalty who, nevertheless, presided over 302 executions.

The son of a prison guard, Lawes was born in Elmira, New York. He worked as an apprentice reporter at the Elmira, New York, Telegram, spent three years in the army (1901–04), and worked temporarily in the insurance business until offered a position as a guard at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, New York in 1905. He then became a guard at New York's Auburn prison in 1906. At Elmira Reformatory (1906–15), he was chief guard and later head records clerk. He was named overseer of the New York City Reformatory in 1915 and then was allowed to establish a new reformatory at New Hampton in Orange County, New York.