The first time we saw video, of Filipino inmates dancing to Thriller, we remember thinking, “… Dude, how were 1500 inmates at a Cebu prison coaxed into a coordinated syncopated jamboree?”
We didn’t have long to wonder. Security consultant Byron Garcia, the force behind it, isn’t exactly shy. With a near-comical audacity (practically homegrown to authorities raised in a country used to getting screwed by its leaders), Garcia uploaded the video onto YouTube himself, a long with a shit-ton of other coordinated nightmares, including I Will Follow Him from Sister Act.
While he totes the Filipino jail house rock as a rehabilitative measure, a deeper look reveals a streak less savory. NewTeeVee shared the following caption from a segment on the story: “Garcia runs the jail like his personal S&M dungeon, and he doesn’t care if you know it. Why should he? His sister is governor and his dad is a senator. You can’t touch him.”
Confirming that, Beyond Madison Avenue reports that the guy even tattoos “Garcia” to the flesh of female inmates.
In an interview, Garcia admits the prisoners weren’t crazy about becoming stars: “These prisoners were all hard-headed. So, well we, we, did some, ya know, uh, some disciplinary measures.”
The Marquis de Sade would positively beam. NewTeeVee nailed it in saying that “At worst, it’s a voyeuristic peep show in an ongoing prisoner rights abuse case.”
