Prison Thriller...

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Well we were talking about this today at the So Cal BBQ and thought I would post it for everyone. This is a prison in the Philippines

YouTube - "Thriller" (original upload)

[llovelace]

That was very good

[Laooda]

That ROCKS!!! Music makes the world go round... right?

[joepythons]

Uuum i think you need a change of the menu for your cookouts if this is what you talk about lol .

[Bruce Whitehead]

If you search Youtube on that prison... there is a ridiculous amount of uploads of them shaking their thangs to a ton of different songs.

Bruce

[thatkindofgirl]

Ha ha, I was wondering how long it would take for this to appear on BP from one of us yesterday!!

[anatess]

That prison is in the same town I grew up in. Really interesting because when I lived there (20 years ago or so), that prison was rife with corruption. Several stories about prisoners drug trafficking inside the prison and several prison gangs getting formed causing "gang wars" and such. Really deplorable conditions.

When I saw this video, I was kinda shocked! I mean, that's pretty impressive for a high-security prison with murderers, rapists, etc. in residence. I immediately called my dad.

Sure enough, my dad told me this is no youtube trick. Byron Garcia (brother of the governor of Cebu) implemented this mandatory "exercise" routine in the prison. His purpose is to instill discipline in the most humane way possible and break down the "gangs" by forming a cohesive group. This is just one of the many positive changes that happened in that jail.

By the way, choosing dance as the "exercise" routine is not a random choice. The Filipino culture is rooted in music and dance. We always say, You must be Filipino if... there's a karaoke machine right next to your TV. Therefore, there is always an interest in participating in anything related to music. And with the video going viral, even making it to Time Magazine, the prisoners have much increased self-worth and is better suited for rehabilitation.

If you look in Youtube, you will find the "flipside" to this video. Somebody (BBC? Can't be sure) posted a video showing abuses in this same prison. That might be true 20 years ago and some form of it may still be existing today, but it is not the SOP in that prison today.

[Blizzarddude]

Interesting, nice video!

[AaronP]

Old video but was very entertaining...they've done a lot of different ones. But what else are you going to do when you're in prison?

[DavidG]

"Don't drop the soap!" just changed to "Don't miss that dance move"