Why read A Wall Is Just a Wall?

Book cover of A Wall Is Just a Wall: The Permeability of the Prison in the Twentieth-Century United States

Book description

Throughout the twentieth century, even the harshest prison systems in the United States were rather porous. Incarcerated people were regularly released from prison for Christmas holidays; the wives of incarcerated men could visit for seventy-two hours relatively unsupervised; and governors routinely commuted the sentences of people convicted of murder. By…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Wall Is Just a Wall as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mneesha Gellman

Author

The world of mass incarceration as we know it today has not always been this way. If it was different before, it can be changed again. Hillyer's book puts in historical perspective many attributes of the modern day prison system in the United States. She shows what it used to be, and hints at how it could change again.

From Mneesha's 3 favorite reads in 2024.