A five-part docu-series will go on a journey inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in the Philippines. Netflix released the official trailer for Happy Jail Monday (Aug. 4) directed by Emmy Award winner Michele Josue (Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine).
It faces intensive scrutiny after an ex-convict (Marco Toral) who was supposed to serve a life sentence on drug charges, is hired to run the facility, sparking not only controversy but overwhelming criticism. Toral later resigned in 2016.
He was questioned for the alleged activities that he made money while he was the jail consultant, as reported by the Cebu Daily News.
CPDRC uses dancing as a part of the inmates’ exercise and rose to worldwide fame when its 2007 “Thriller” video went viral. Inmates at CPDRC have coined the nickname as the “Dancing Inmates.” They have also danced to Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” reaching millions of people online. In 2015, they danced to “We are all God’s Children’ for Pope Francis.
The inmates once participated in monthly dance performances but in 2017 it moved to a request basis per the CPDRC warden.
Happy Jail will premiere globally on Netflix (Aug. 14).
Watch the trailer below.