By now you’ve no doubt seen at least one of the 23 YouTube videos of 1,500 Filipino prisoners in orange jump suits doing precision dancing. The first video appeared back in July 17, 2007. It was a routine done to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Since their first appearance on the Internet, the dancing Cebu prisoners have become a major YouTube favorite, viewed by millions of people. The behind-bars dance routines began when a “security consultant” at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Byron Garcia, got the idea of using dance moves to encourage prisoners to exercise on a regular basis. He felt the dances would keep them away from gang activities and other self-destructive behavior. Officials (and some prisoners) now report that inmates do, indeed, take pleasure in the dance routines and “are very happy at the interest [in their videos.]

However high the “happy meter,” I’m suspicious of institutional coercion. Dance is usually an expression of spontaneous energy or an organized set of movements that express a culture or a belief system. It is typically voluntary, unless a cowboy is aiming a six-shooter at your feet while shouting, “Dance!” But the dance numbers at Cebu Prison are mandatory; prisoners spend upwards of 5 hours a day perfecting their moves. Some of the earliest YouTube posts came from video tapes of dances done for a visiting VIP.

We YouTubers feel good watching 1,500 men in orange jump suits groove to the beat. But what if we were the ones forced to dance because someone thought it was good for us? There are a lot of things that are good for us, yet we prefer not to do them because there are other things we’d rather do—some bad (like taking illegal drugs or drinking excessively), some good (like reading a book or watching Project Runway). At least the choice is ours.

I wonder how many prisoners would “opt out” of dancing if given the opportunity. You can claim that we, the unincarcerated, have earned the privilege to choose our pleasures because we’ve stayed on the right side of the law. You can say that my concerns are soft-headed. After all, they’re prisoners—who cares if they are forced to perform? O.K., maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing. But what if these prisoners perform under threat of severe physical punishment? How would we know? Who is overseeing this prison? An online ABC News report raises my worst suspicions. Also, check out this report.