Mitosis of a Cell Block: Division in Prison.

Mitosis is the process whereby the nucleus of a cell divides into multiple cells. It's a fascinating process that includes an early step where chromosomes are pulled to the "poles" of the cell.  You're probably thinking, "What the heck is this nerd saying? And what does it have to do with prisons?!" When I was thinking recently about mitosis (I saw it included in a presentation), it occurred to me that mitosis happens in social situations too. God knows our country is deeply divided right now. It shows up in many ways, but especially in politics, race, crime, and other social situations. I like to call this, Social Mitosis.  Prison is a total institution, yes, a sort of social anomaly in the greater social order. But it's not really that much different than the rest of the world. We, too, experience social mitosis. We are pulled to polar opposites like everyone else. We're a mix of people from different social, religious, and economic backgrounds, and though we all share association with the criminal justice system, our value systems are often very different.  Prison has politically conservative folks, and political liberals. Surprisingly, some staunchly conservative prisoners even parrot, from within prison, conservative talking points about being tough on crime. And because of their own incarceration, others support any agenda that will help them potentially leave prison early, regardless of the sense of the policy. Clearly, prisoners are pulled to differing ideologies too.  Social mitosis, or division, is even seen in categories like, cities of origin, gang affiliations, race (a big one!), and crime types. Just because we all wear blue and orange doesn't mean we believe the same things or hold the same values. It also doesn't mean we all band together to fight for causes that affect us.  In fact, I've noticed that there are three primary types of prisoners, when it comes to our response to our environment. Two are, perhaps not surprisingly, polar opposites.  Some prisoners, probably the vast majority, are The Apathetic. These prisoners are resigned to whatever happens to them, engaging almost not at all with any form of political or prison advocacy. They never write grievances, though they will often complain about their conditions.  The polar opposite is The Agitator. These prisoners are the radicals who find flaws in everything within prison, and they are loud about their complaints. These prisoners file many grievances and sometimes lawsuits, and they are often thorns in the sides of prison administrators. Not surprisingly, many of these prisoners have long sentences (including Life). Agitation is a reaction to their conditions.  The final type of prisoner is The Advocate. This is a small minority within prison who works to educate other prisoners, selectively writes grievances, and works to establish and maintain constructive relationships with other advocates outside of prison. (Incidentally, this type doesn't fit into social metaphor of mitosis, but I never claimed to be a biologist!) These categories aren't perfect, of course, and sometimes people change categories or are somewhere on the spectrum between them. But wherever they sit, it's fascinating to observe how people react or respond to their environments. If prisons were more transparent, I'm sure sociologists would have a field day studying human behavior in prison.  I doubt sociologists would find much to surprise them, though. Prisoners are much like the rest of the country appears to be: restlessly apathetic, and often polarized in social groupings.  I doubt if my coined term, Social Mitosis, will catch on. But it sure looks like whether in prison or out, humans are determined to be drawn to polar opposites from each other. It's too bad our division is cancerous and not life-giving.