A View Of The Dancing Inmates

Is it possible to have a prison as a tourism destination? Most definitely. Take Alcatraz, America’s premier maximum-security prison for 30 years.

Today, Alcatraz is a prominent landmark and attraction for tourists visiting San Francisco. As a matter of fact, several top grossing movies such as The Rock, Birdman of Alcatraz and Escape from Alcatraz were filmed at this once upon a time final stop for the nation’s most incorrigible inmates. It is a place of contradictions, with a grim past and an enduring future.

Not quite as widely known but definitely generating a lot of interest and attention is the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.

When I first heard about the inmate’s performances on Youtube.com I, like the rest of the 14,466,387 viewers from around the globe, checked it out. What I saw on the small screen aroused my curiosity. I simply had to see the performances live.

The tour starts with a brief orientation by  Byron Garcia, the Provincial Capitol Consultant on Security who hatched this, I must say, brilliant idea. A brief, 10-minute video presentation showcases the various activities the inmates are involved in. They include planting and tending the garden, then  harvesting their own produce,  making beautiful handicrafts such as bags, wallets and hats made from indigenous materials, to sewing t-shirts printed with different taglines.

The program soon starts, mesmerizing the audience. We were awed by the number of participants, over 1, 500, dressed in the all-familiar bright orange. They begin with Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit The Thriller, then  move on to the Hustle, Jailhouse Rock, excerpts from the  popular Sister Act and Soulja Boy. The highlight of the one hour spectacular show at the quadrangle is the Algorithm March participated by 967 inmates. The dance is performed in lines with eight basic steps, moving canon style one at a time. After each movement, the line takes a step forward until all 56 columns have done the routine. It is a record setting performance that has attracted 1,813,864 internet viewers.

Garcia firmly believes that getting the inmates involved in physical activities will instill discipline and harmony that are crucial and imperative in the transition back to the community when their term of incarceration has been met.

 Donations which are much appreciated   are divided among the performers who have their own savings account.  Spectators dig deep into their pockets to assist these individuals who have gone astray at some point in their lives, always with the hope that some day they could rejoin their community, resolve to do good, make amends and start a new beginning.  As the dedicated, concerned for the Cebuanos Governor Gwen Garcia emphasizes, the facility focuses on rehabilitation not detention.

Inside the well-guarded center, even though spotless, airy and almost serene, yet one cannot help but reflect on one’s own freedom and wonder how it feels to lose it.  I cannot even begin to imagine!