The workhouse on Blackwell's Island, New York, USA. The workhouse provided a punitive regime for petty offenders who were required to labour during their stay. The island, alternatively known as Welfare Island and Roosevelt Island, also housed a penitentiary, a poorhouse, a city hospital, a smallpox hospital, and the New York Lunatic Asylum. View from the Queensborough Bridge with Midtown New York in the distance.