I’ve been working as a production sound recordist for the last 10 years in Shanghai, and a friend and fellow recordist who was originally booked to do Happy Jail, Terence Lloren, had a scheduling conflict and asked me to sub for half of the production. I ended up being in Cebu for about a month.
Working in the prison was certainly an eye-opening experience for me. It’s hard to explain what the atmosphere was like. From my point of view, and with all the advantages I’ve been given in life, of course the situation in the prison is less than ideal.
That being said, I did get a sense of happiness from several of the inmates, particularly the ones who were involved in the dancing. Through working with many of the inmates and hearing the details of their personal stories, I did gain some serious insight into a lifestyle that was previously unknown to me.
I can’t say that I fully enjoyed it. It was quite dark at times. That’s life though. It did make me more aware of the advantages that growing up as a white male in the US has offered me.
The prison is essentially run by a gang, Batang Cebu. Every inmate is immediately inducted into the gang upon arrival. Of course there are official prison workers, but honestly, from what I witnessed, they don’t deal much with the internal workings of the prison and the inmates. That’s left mostly to the gang.
The gang has a very structured hierarchy of leadership within the prison walls, as well as strict rules and punishments. Marco Toral, a former inmate who was now the prison’s ‘consultant,’ is tasked with more or less bridging the gap between the internal leadership and the officials. Being that Marco was supporting the production, and the internal prison leadership was as well, we were quite well received by the inmates. They were incredibly helpful.
I honestly can’t say the same for many of the prison officials. Marco was in the process of trying to reform the prison staff by bringing in new employees. This caused a bit of a friction between the staff that were loyal to Marco and the ones who were not.
As the production went on and Marco’s influence with the Cebu government began to diminish, we definitely started to lose our welcome with the official prison staff. As the situation escalated, I honestly felt safer inside the prison with the inmates.
The Philippines’ Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) became famous for a viral Michael Jackson dance video in 2007. New Netflix documentary series Happy Jail goes inside the prison wall to document what happens when it comes under the management of ex-convict Marco Toral, sparking controversy and criticism. Michael Hough was a sound recordist on the production. Here he relates his experiences, as told to Ned Kelly.
https://www.thatsmags.com/china/post/29495/i-saw-the-dark-side-of-the-philippines-dancing-happy-jail
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