When a prison cell accidentally became a university classroom

At the height of [Martial Law in the Philippines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_under_Ferdinand_Marcos), thousands of academics, scholars, and students were detained. One of these academics were historians [William Henry Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Scott_(historian)#Detention_during_martial_law) and [Zeus Salazar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus_A._Salazar#Participation_in_the_Diliman_Commune_and_detention_in_Fort_Bonifacio), and they were arrested in 1972.

Scotty, as he is known, was arrested due to having a copy of Mao’s writings in his bookshelf and was cited as one of the “evidences” for his alleged communist sympathies despite the fact that he’s only using it to teach Asian History, while Salazar was arrested due to his involvement in the [First Quarter Storm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Quarter_Storm) and [Diliman Commune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diliman_Commune) years prior. Both Scotty and Salazar share the same prison cell in [Fort Bonifacio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bonifacio) near what is now [Bonifacio Global City](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonifacio_Global_City) and they often have tense arguments and disagreements about history and anthropology.

It got to a point that jail guards got curious about their discussions that they ask for history lessons, which Salazar obliged and gave lectures on Filipino History, listening to their takes on the subject. Scotty later recalls that his time in jail was “*one of the best days of his life*” as he was surrounded by detained academics and had all the time in the world to have endless intellectual discussions away from university admin work.

Their detention was even recorded by renowned Filipino author [Jose “Butch” Dalisay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Dalisay_Jr.) in his novel *”Killing Time in a Warm Place”* who also shared the same cell with Scotty and Salazar.

That’s a very neat story, thanks for telling it. I work for a university that was build inside a former prison, and that resonates a lot here!

Reminds me of the quote: “To open a school is to close a prison” (sadly falsely attributed to Victor Hugo, but still very meaningful).