Correctional Dancing - Pilipino Style

Via CNN -

CEBU, Philippines (CNN) -- The sea of orange moves with an urgent rhythm as music booms in the early morning light. The dancers twirl in unison, every movement carefully choreographed.

But what's most striking about these dancers are that most are accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers. They dance their jig behind prison walls. They are led by a choreographer who is accused of mass murder. One of their biggest stars is a transsexual, awaiting trial on methamphetamine dealing charges.

Welcome to the Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines. Once infamous for its gang violence, the prison is now famous for its dancing prisoners. Their hard work has spawned one of the unlikeliest hits on the Internet -- a reworking of Michael Jackson's 1980s smash hit video "Thriller." Filmed by the prison boss, it has drawn more than 6 million hits on YouTube.

They've also posted several other dance videos with less fanfare, including performances of "Sister Act," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Radio Ga Ga."

"We don't have dumbbells here. We don't have weights. We have dancing," prison overseer Byron Garcia told CNN.

And dance they do. Every able-bodied prisoner -- about 1,500 of them -- must dance. If they refuse, they lose certain privileges, mostly conjugal visits. Sometimes, the dancing occupies up to five hours a day. Garcia rejects claims he's abusing the prisoners' rights by forcing them to dance so many hours a day.

He says it gives them a renewed sense of worth and confidence, breaking them of their violent ways. He is convinced his prison is a model for prison authorities everywhere, an example of how to crack the plague of violent prison gangs.

"These men learned they can dance and still be men," he says. "It makes them work together, it makes them exercise and they learn self-esteem.

"They no longer feel like lowly criminals." A smile breaks his face. "Now," he says, "they feel like celebrity criminals."

Garcia took a gamble when he took over the prison three years ago. Gangs and corrupt guards ruled the prison. Serious violence broke out at least once a week. He sacked most of the guards and ordered the prisoners, first to march and then to dance.

"I had to ignore everything in the handbooks to do this," he says. "People in the United States tell me it couldn't work in their prisons." He shrugs: How can they know without trying it?

The prison boss says there has not been a violent incident in nearly a year and a half. "They are just not hostile anymore," he says.