Spoiler................... original or clone?

I did not. And I think it was meant to be unclear so one's conclusion can be as good as any other one.

Well, later on that dude who was shot in the leg still had the limp, right?

I don't think that's part of the storyline but at first I thought it would be. Because the first time he was going through the process of getting cloned, he was in that cubicle that was filling up with the red liquid. And then when you see the clone he seems to be enveloped in some kind of red latex. That made me think the one surrounded by the red latex was the original James and not the clone because of the red stuff around him. But it seems to have turned out that none of that was part of the plot and that everyone that got killed were clones.

I was expecting this to be the end reveal but after the first cloning they have the discussion asking if they thought they was the original or the clone, so seeing as they was asking this themselves it took away any kind of surprise end spoiler

From memory, the clones (and originals) all wake up after the first cloning procedure. Do the clones remember the wake up? I don't remember. But if they do...

Since the group in the cell asked about doing this, this could suggest they haven't 'woken up' from being newly-created clones and are in fact the originals who have been sitting in the cell the whole time.

A new set of clones could have been created from records and the originals were brought in to be killed and watched by the clones.

IMO they were all clones with the real people having been held accountable for their crimes. I think the reason they were so sadistic is because they had no souls. Prior to James' death sentence, he was a total sniveling wimp. Afterwards, while he was not as bad as the rest of the group, he wasn't as meek and whiney as he was before. Heck, he wants to stay and even hid his passport. Of course we'll never know for sure but this is my take on it.

The film didn’t seem interested in the cliched ‘is it the original or the clone?’ question, which is why the characters have that discussion immediately after the first cloning then the film seems to drop it. Cronenberg is telling the audience ‘yeah I know you’re thinking that but that’s not what this film is about’.

It’s stronger if we’re seeing one man psychologically deteriorate as he is severed from the consequences of his actions than go for another tired round of ‘is it the clone?’ Brandon and his dad are more sophisticated than that.