A Wall Is Just a Wall

“In this smart and urgent history, Reiko Hillyer tracks the building of mass incarceration through assaults on the mobility and relationships of incarcerated people. A Wall Is Just a Wall is a must-read for anyone who cares about how we got our current prison state and how to build something better.” - Dan Berger, author of Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey

“Drawing on meticulous research and amplifying the voices of prisoners and their families and advocates, A Wall Is Just a Wall is materialist history at its best. Reiko Hillyer’s beautifully narrated historical lessons and analyses of the contested sites of clemency, conjugal visitation, and furlough policies spur us to newly imagine the porosity of prison walls and, ultimately, prison abolition as justice long overdue.” - Sora Y. Han, author of Letters of the Law: Race and the Fantasy of Colorblindness in American Law

"In this impressive study, historian Hillyer documents the relative openness of American prisons in the early 20th century and the subsequent 'thickening and hardening of prison walls.' . . . This thorough work of historical scholarship draws extensively on inmate newspapers to provide an eye-opening look at the high value prisoners placed on family visits, furlough, and the possibility of clemency, making their cancellation its own form of psychological punishment. Readers concerned by mass incarceration should take note." - Publishers Weekly

"Articulating this history of the prison’s permeability can help scholars and organizers communicate the broader contingency—and disruptability—of seemingly entrenched ideas about crime, public safety, rehabilitation, and indeed the prison itself. In so doing, Hillyer upends the idea that mass caging is, or ever should be, accepted common sense." - Charlotte E. Rosen, Public Books

"Deeply researched and beautifully written, A Wall Is Just a Wall expands our understanding of the U.S. carceral state, unsettles firmly entrenched notions of southern exceptionalism. . . . Anyone who considers mass incarceration to be a grave injustice will be taken by Hillyer's powerful exploration of the themes of not only social death, isolation, and inhumanity, but also mercy, redemption, and humanity."
  - Paul Renfro, North Carolina Historical Review

"Everyone who favors safety should read this important book. Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals." - L. D. Woods, Choice

"With A Wall Is Just a Wall, Hillyer offers a valuable model for historians interested in writing policy history from the perspective of those who are affected. . . . This remarkable book should be widely read and assigned." - Melanie Newport, Journal of American History