The riot is a culmination of everything Mike does wrong throughout the season. A self-professed advocate for prisoners, Mike's real job is to maintain the status quo, a cog in the wheel of a broken system that is beyond repair. He runs around negotiating with the heads of the warring factions to keep the violence on the inside of the prison from reaching a tipping point. Although Mike claims not to have a side, he ultimately does what's best for his tribe –- the cops he grew up with.
The decision to recruit the different factions of the inmate population to murder a drug addict and child killer is one Mike is reticent to make, knowing this Faustian bargain will blow up in everyone's face, but he does it because it's what the cops want. As the prisoners begin to demand what is owed to them, Mike urges prison guard Ed Simmons (James Jordan) to come down hard on the inmates to remind them of their place in the food chain. However, it's the leader of the Black group that Simmons targets most harshly, reinforcing that the systemic racism that exists outside the prison is amplified on the inside.
Bunny (Tobi Bamtefa) warns Mike that their treatment of P-Dog (Pha'rez Lass) will "wake the beast," but Mike's response is simply, "At least the beast is in the cage." Bunny is speaking metaphorically, with the "beast" being generations of rage and oppression, but it's one person to Mike.
