Reiko Hillyer, 2025 Oregon Book Award Finalist

Congratulations to Reiko Hillyer whose book A WALL IS JUST A WALL: THE PERMEABILITY OF THE PRISON IN THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY UNITED STATES (Duke University Press, 2024) is a finalist for the 2025 Oregon Book Awards in the category of General Nonfiction.

January 28, 2025

Reiko Hillyer is an Associate Professor of History and Department Chair. In A WALL IS JUST A WALL, she explores the decline of clemency, conjugal visits, and furloughs within the U.S. carceral system over the past hundred years, demonstrating how the current impermeability of imprisonment is a recent and contested phenomenon and how bipartisan calls for permanent exile have increased despite historical precedents.

Winners of each category will be announced live at the 2025 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony at Portland Center Stage at The Armory on Monday, April 28, 2025. 

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