Concrete and Sunshine

“Concrete and Sunshine” is a documentary about the human geography of incarceration which challenges the function of the prison system. Arguing that an underlying problem of incarceration is the isolation of the individual from the rest of society, “Concrete and Sunshine” focuses on interviews with men housed in 24-hours of solitary confinement in California’s “super-max” prison, Pelican Bay State Prison. Cousino questions the motives for the use of solitary confinement and the impact it has on the individuals celled within. Additionally, “Concrete and Sunshine” relates the penal system’s use of solitary to the economic isolation experienced by both communities that have requested a prison for financial gain and those who have lost too many individuals to the prison system. The theme of isolation provokes questions about the role of the individual in society and our own relationship to the state as a collective body.