Michael Scofield

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Michael Scofield

Michael-scofield.jpg
Character information
Name: Michael Scofield
Series: Prison Break
Tier: Mastermind
Role: Lead Mastermind

Michael Scofield is the main character of the Prison Break television series. A structural engineer and Lincoln Burrows' younger brother, he infiltrates Fox River State Penitentiary to try to save his brother from death row.

Skills

  • Analytical skills: Due to an innate combination of low latent inhibition and high IQ, Michael is able to both perceive and process information much faster than average people. This makes him good at both long-term planning, as demonstrated by his elaborate plan to break out his brother that took him a year to complete, and improvising, which becomes necessary several times during the series as events disrupt his careful plans.
  • Social skills: Michael is charismatic and knows how to charm, bluff or intimidate people as the situation requires.
  • Engineering: Holding a Bachelor's and Master's degree in civil engineering, Michael uses his engineering skills frequently during the series, not only to find or create escape routes but also to design physical traps for his enemies, for example by causing a tunnel to collapse on them.

Modus operandi

Michael's plan at the start of the series involves getting himself incarcerated as a way of infiltrating Fox River Penitentiary to get access to his brother and break him out. Using the fact that he worked for the firm responsible for designing Fox River, he gets access to the prison's blueprints and uses them to plan the escape. He also thoroughly investigates the other inmates and prison staff in order to work them into his plan. When he finds that memorizing the minute details of the plan and the blueprints is too big of an undertaking even for him, he comes up with the idea of hiding these details into the design of an intricate full-body tattoo that he gets tattooed on himself. This allows him to carry a map of his plan into the prison, that he can then freely consult at the appropriate time, while also obscuring its meaning from the people around him.

As the series progresses, Michael soon becomes recognized by those in the know as an expert of breaking out of prisons, finding himself forced to repeat this feat multiple times in different circumstances. By the end of the series he is responsible for at least four successful escapes, not to mention others said to have taken place off-camera.

Notable Tricks