I stumbled across this in Al Jazeera:

These prisoners in the Philippines look like they are practicing for a dance recital.. and they are.

Some of the 1500 inmates at Cebu now perform mass choreographed dance moves to the strains of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Queen’s Radio Gaga and a number from the hit film Sister Act among others.

Byron Garcia, a security consultant at the prison, says the thinking behind the move was “by music we can communicate more to the inmates. Penetrate their psyche … the end goal would be discipline”.
He said they began the dancing routines last year after he noticed that very few of the 1,600 prisoners were taking part in the calisthenics and push-ups that the jail was offering for their exercise.

Dressing up as a nun wearing make-up would normally be considered risky behaviour inside prison walls but that’s exactly what Wengiel Resane does.
He is the lead in three of the inmates’ 12 routines, including their interpretation of Sister Act, the film starring Whoopi Goldberg.

Garcia initially put videos of the routines on the internet to show other jailers alternative ways to instill discipline and allow the inmates to have fun at the same time.
He never expected them to become hits but a video of the inmates performing Thriller clocked up an amazing 1.9 million views on YouTube.

I have never experienced prolonged incarceration, but from people I have met, I can tell you that the prolonged, unbroken, periods of boredom cause more problems than any other source.
Imagine, being locked up with the same faces day in and day out, with not much of anything to do.

This alternative to push-ups, provides an alleviation of the boredom and a chance to do something with others… Man.. after all, is a pack animal.

There is no danger of this revolutionizing the way correctional institutions are run, or of it becoming the next hit “reality show.” But, for now it seems to help.

Although, as reality TV, it could hardly be worse than the drivel the networks produce now.