Filipino Jail Hosts Dota Tournament For Prisoners

Vignesh Raghuram
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Filipino Jail Hosts Dota Tournament For Prisoners

A jail in the Philippines just hosted a Dota tournament for its prisoners becoming one of the first, if not the first, prisons in the world to hold an esports tournament.

Dota Tournament Inside Filipino Prison

The esports fervor has climbed up the high-security walls of The Baguio City Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Baguio, Philippines as the prison hosted its first-ever Dota tournament. This is probably the first instance in the world where an esports tournament is being held inside a prison.

This was first reported by “95.7 Brigada News FM Koronadal” who shared pictures of this tournament which shows inmates competing against each other in Dota. These pictures have since gone viral and garnered various reactions in the online esports community.

Filipino Jail Hosts Dota Tournament For Prisoners
Filipino Jail Hosts Dota Tournament For Prisoners
Filipino Jail Hosts Dota Tournament For Prisoners

We can see the prison inmates playing Warcraft 3: Dota. This is likely because, unlike Dota 2, Warcraft 3 Dota doesn’t require an internet connection to play in a LAN setting. It also likely runs smoother in older hardware.

The reactions of social media users to this phenomenon has also been largely positive.

Many have commented that this is a fairly humane way to treat prisoners and appreciated the prison authorities.


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Vignesh has been covering the esports industry for nearly 5 years starting with the early days of the DPC. His industry expertise includes experience in Dota 2, CS:GO and Mobile Esports coverage.