The Edmondson Blog

Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center is a maximum security prison in Cebu, in the Philippines. The prison has a programme of choreographed exercise routines for the inmates. Byron Garcia, the prison governor, explains that his inspiration came while watching the movie The Shawshank Redemption in particular the scene where the sounds of Mozart's Figaro flood the prison yard.

He initially introduced an exercise programme where the prisoners marched in unison to the beat of a drum, but moved on to dancing to pop music; he began with one of his favourite songs, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2). As the repertoire expanded, he deliberately chose camp music such as In The Navy and Y.M.C.A. by The Village People, so macho prisoners would not be offended at being asked to dance.

The prison now even has its own official choreographer teachers. Some prisoners are chosen more prominently for more sophisticated routines while the general prison population (sometimes up to 1500 inmates) participate with simpler more accessible routines.

Time Magazine, in an article in December, 2007, ran an article, Most Popular Viral Videos, and placed the inmates' Cebu Thriller as 5th in its Top 10 list. Time's stated description of the prisoners was: Orange-jumpsuited accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers paid homage to Michael Jackson's Thriller in a dance performance filmed at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines.