Sea Of Prison Inmates Stand In Yard And Spontaneously Bust Into Michael Jackson Flash Mob

Nov 03, 2020

Many people worldwide have a negative attitude when it comes to prison inmates, but they are often ordinary people like us. And just because they have been led astray during a certain period of their life does not mean they cannot learn creative things. If you watch this choreographed Michael Jackson dance recorded at a detention center in the Philippines in 2010, it will change your mind about prisoners.

Many musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan have visited prisoners and performed songs. Michael Jackson is also among the top musicians who have made a point in their music career to perform a prison song. Although it was sort of a recording, Michael Jackson went to prison and recorded They Don't Care About Us with inmates, something that was magical and historical.

However, although he never returned to the prison to perform, his friends and workmates went ahead and visited the jail on his behalf to film a music video leading up to the release of the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It. Travis Payne, Michael's choreographer, Dres Reid, and Daniel Celebre, both dancers, were among the few people who went to the prison on Michael's behalf.

Before Michael's death, Travis, Reid, and Daniel went to Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines (CPDRC) in order to prepare the CPDRC Dancing Inmates, a dancing collective formed within the prison, for the music video of Michael Jackson's They Don't Care About Us. The preparations took two days. 

The clip begins with someone asking the prisoners to get into position. Amazingly, the inmates tend to be disciplined, and they follow their instructor's orders, all standing attentively in a prison yard. A moving song starts to play, and all inmates begin to dance to the music. What shock most is the inmates' ability to time themselves perfectly, which can be compared to professional dancers.

After that, the few inmate dancers who kicked off the performance moving forward, and other prisoners join them from the sides. Michael's song They Don't Care About Us, a song performed in a prison age ago, starts to play. While approaching the end, the inmates move to the prison yard center and create a peace sign.

They then end the performance with an unusual move that sees the inmates at the peace sign's outer circle kneel while the rest raise their hands. When the video was posted on YouTube, it swiftly went viral. Currently, the video has over 30 million views with more than 20,000 comments and 200,000 likes.

Nevertheless, at first, many people thought that professional dancers recorded the video — furthermore, prison is the last place we expect choreographers to show off their dancing skills. It is good to note that some prisoners at the maximum-security jail in Cebu Province in the Philippines study dance routines as a rehabilitation activity. And for this reason, it is certain that the people you see in the video are inmates and are well-known as CPDRC Dancing Inmates.

However, after a few months, several human rights experts claimed that the dance routines were exploitative. And in 2010, uploads and public performances ceased, although some prison kept the dance routine teaching part of the prisoner's exercise program.

What made this video a joy to watch and one of the most viewed videos on the internet was the inmates' fun-loving attitude. The prisoners were united, were talented, and danced like they were having lots of fun. This made it difficult for people to remember that they were prisoners and made people think they were professional dancers.

However, some prison officials saw the opportunity as a disaster, but it changed to be a successful adventure. According to reports, Bryon F. Garcia created the program, and he was the official security advisor of the Cebu government.

The dancing program still continues in the rehabilitation facility, although it is no longer in the display. One of the last videos performed publicly was They Don't Care About Us, and it went out to be a hit for the prison and the dancing inmates.

Most recently, award-winning filmmaker Michele Josue directed and released a five-part documentary series titled Happy Jail on Netflix in 2019, detailing the conditions within the CPDRC.

However, if you would love to see the videos performed by the inmates, you can visit Garcia's YouTube channel, as it contains all clips performed by the inmates. The videos on his channel include choreographed dances to music by Michael Jackson and Queen. What do you think about this incredible performance? Let us know and pass it on to friends and family members.