Michael J. Scofield
Posted on 8:04 PM by jay-ar
Michael J. Scofield is the main protagonist in the American television series Prison Break. He is portrayed by Wentworth Miller. The character first appeared in the series pilot as a man who stages a bank robbery in order to get sent into the prison where his older brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), is being held until his execution. The premise of Prison Break revolves around the two brothers and Michael's plan to help Lincoln escape his death sentence. As the principal character, Michael has been featured in every episode of the series. Although both Lincoln and Michael are the protagonists of the series, Michael has been featured more extensively than Lincoln, especially in the first season and the third.
Michael Scofield is one of a kind in the A-Wing. No previous convictions, this inmate had an immaculate record before committing armed robbery at the Chicago branch of United Savings bank. "A wrong turn", he explains.
Scofield attended Morton East High School and then graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S., civil engineering and M.S., civil engineering from the Loyola University of Chicago. At the time of his arrest he was employed as a structural engineer in Middleton, Maxwell and Schaum located in Chicago, Illinois.
Michael is the younger brother of Lincoln Burrows ( Dominic Purcell ), the man accused of the scandalous murder of the Vice-President's brother. His father left when he was too young to remember, and was told that he was an "old, abusive drunk", but was he? As a result, Michael took his mother's maiden name whereas Lincoln kept his father's surname.
Scofield's mother died of liver cancer when he was 11 years old, so now the only family he has left is Lincoln and his nephew (Lincoln's son) Lincoln Junior (LJ) Burrows (Marshall Allman). However, Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney) has been there for him his whole life and has been good to him, he quotes. Miss Donovan is also his lawyer.
Before his arrest, Scofield used to see a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with having Low Latent Inhibition. This condition, combined with his high IQ has made him a creative genius and has helped him plan the escape meticulously, and with such immense detail. Over the course of four months, Michael had the entire layout of the prison tattooed onto his upper body, hidden within gothic imagery of battling angels and demons. His chest features an image of a angel slaying a demon and contains blueprints of the prison's underground tunnels and passageways. His back has the angel attacking the demon and hides an overhead view of the layout of the prison. His arms contain numerous clues and reminders (e.g. chemical formulae, phone numbers, names of necessary parts he must procure within the prison, etc.)
Scofield married Nika Volek (Holly Valance) to help him with his escape, but has shown immense interest in Dr Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) when getting his insulin shots. He also had a deep relationship with the warden Henry Pope. Michael is not diabetic, but has gotten access to PUGNAC from C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar) which lowers his insulin levels to make him seem like a diabetic, thus getting regular access to the infirmary. Two of Michael's toes were cut off by John Abruzzi, a mafia boss who wanted to extract the location of mob informant Otto Fibonacci from Michael. When Michael refused to crack, he struck a deal: Abruzzi would supply an escape plane in exchange for Fibonacci's address.
Scofield's back number is 94941 and is sharing cell 40 with Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco).
Michael Scofield successfully broke out of Fox River and had eluded the authorities for more than a month. During this time, Scofield met up with his father, Aldo Burrows, and revealed that he has in fact met him before at the age of 10 when Aldo, then an unknown face, rescued him from an abusive foster father who used to beat Michael then lock him up.
Michael Scofield is currently in Sona, a prison located in Panama, South America.