I think it's better if they are able to be taken as otherwise they make it difficult or impossible to promote pawns
[4PC Variant]: DeadWall

what happends if you take a peice? does your peice go with it?
You can't take a dead piece in Deadwall. If you are creating a position under DW, there will be bricks around dead pieces.
DeadWall means that dead pieces can't be captured.
To emphasize this, they are visually "walled out" (or are they wearing snake skins, Bab?)
See also https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/gray-pieces-as-walls