The six-part video collection from Madison’s Timothy Coursen kicks off the Central Library’s Resource Fair on Tues night
There’s a lot happening at the Central Library’s Resource Fair on Tues, Nov 10. Grassroots faith organization WISDOM will present a campaign to drastically reduce the state’s prison population to 11,000, and networking opportunities abound with members of Wisconsin’s mass incarnation reform movement. There’s also a 5:30p screening of Reform Now, Madison director Timothy Coursen’s video protest against Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections. An hour-long collection of video journalism pieces, Reform Now gathers testimony and criticisms from Wisconsin faith leaders and protest groups to target state parole reform as well as solitary confinement’s damage to those exposed to its abysmal conditions.
In its targeting of Corrections’ harsh confinement spaces, the documentary shows a detailed recreation of a solitary cell, led in one segment by Reverend Kate Edwards, a Buddhist Chaplain in Madison and prominent member of grassroots reform. Apart from graffiti and human waste traces, the simulated cell matches the dimensions and depressingly, the brutal cacophony inmates are exposed to while in solitary confinement. It’s far-and-away the highlight, immediately illustrative of the “Solitary Confinement is Torture” picket signs that pop up in Coursen’s protest footage. The cell’s immediate impact also explains why the library’s Resource Fair has trotted the thing out for an interactive display through Thurs, Nov 12.
The rest of Reform Now, though? It’s a bit of an echo chamber. Capitol protests and public testimonies to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council are impassioned assurances that these aren’t niche concerns, and WISDOM is the standard bearer throughout the 60-minute runtime. But Reform Now is a collection of moments, a piecing together of short-form videos that work better as standalone vignettes, especially when constructive criticism and a coherent plan of action are absent. Instead, the Reform Now title card, which is violently stamped on top of the Corrections’ logo, becomes an empty rallying cry. Department Secretary Ed Wall has a lot to think about; it’s a shame his office isn’t getting any helpful feedback.
- Reform Now plays FREE Tues, Nov 10 in Rm 301 of the Central Madison Library. Director Timothy Coursen will lead a group discussion following the screening.