CEBU, Philippines — Behind thick stone walls topped by electrified razor wire, one of cyberspace’s most unlikely hits is already warming up as the rest of Cebu stirs from sleep.
Pockets of inmates stretch and practice their latest moves. Then the morning workout gets under way in earnest in the exercise yard of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.
In their identical orange prison uniforms, up to 1,500 march and clap in unison as they perform precision dance routines to the Village People’s “In the Navy” and “YMCA” pounding from six well-worn black speakers.
And why not? Their version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” had been watched nearly 4.4 million times on YouTube as of Thursday, uploaded by Byron Garcia, the Cebu provincial security consultant who came up with the idea of adding structure to poorly attended exercise sessions.
Inmates with arms covered in tattoos and baby-faced guys who might have been gang members on the outside gyrate next to one another. They all seem to be enjoying themselves, or at least taking pride as their sandals and tennis shoes slap in unison on the gray concrete. They laugh when they screw up, applaud when they get a new sequence right.
Forty-four female inmates, held in a separate wing, join in for “I Will Follow Him” from “Sister Act,” which is among several other prison videos posted on YouTube. Ten have at least 100,000 hits each.
Crisanto Nierre, who plays Michael Jackson’s role in “Thriller,” finds his new fame bittersweet. Relatives as far away as Sweden, Denmark and Dubai have excitedly watched him on YouTube. But he can’t escape the fact that he’s in prison, gently touching family photos hanging from the bed above him in sheets of protective plastic.
A fan of Jackson’s music since he was in a dance troupe in high school — ironically, his favorites include “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal” — 36-year-old Nierre carefully lays out the orange-and-black outfit made for his performances, smoothing every wrinkle.
“I hope that all the people who see us will be happy in knowing that we, despite being prisoners, we were able to do this,” said Nierre, in prison five years awaiting trial on drug charges.
“Before the dancing, our problems were really heavy to bear. Dancing takes our minds away from our problems. Our bodies became more healthy. As for the judges, they may be impressed with us, seeing that we are being rehabilitated and this could help our case. We are being rehabilitated in a good way.”
With the court system overworked, officials have been trying to ease overcrowding and brutal conditions in prisons.
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