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Prison Break

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Prison Break
File:Prison-break.jpg
Prison Break Logo
Created bySanford Bookstaver
Bobby Roth
StarringWentworth Miller
Dominic Purcell
Stacy Keach
Robin Tunney
Frank Grillo
Amaury Nolasco
Marshall Allman
Peter Stormare
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes22
Production
Running timeapprox. 0:43 (per episode)
Original release
NetworkFox Broadcasting Company
ReleaseAugust 29, 2005 –
present

Prison Break is a television series on Fox that premiered on August 29, 2005. Prison Break was created and co-executive produced by Paul Scheuring. It is filmed on location in Joliet Prison in Illinois. The first part of the series, which aired from August to November in 2005, revolved around Michael Scofield breaking himself and Lincoln Burrows out of prison. The remaining nine episodes, which will air in the spring of 2006 will revolve around the conspiracy surrounding why Burrows was framed for the murder of the vice president's brother.

Overview

The premise revolves around a structural engineer named Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) who deliberately commits a felony with the intent of being sentenced to Fox River State Penitentiary. Scofield believes that his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), has been falsely convicted of killing the Vice President's brother, and Scofield has entered the prison with an elaborate plan to help Lincoln escape from death row. On October 16, 2005, some Fox networks aired a special called "Prison Break: Behind The Walls" after Game 5 of the ALCS ended.

Characters

Inmates

Michael Scofield

File:MichaelScofield prisonbreaktv.jpg
Michael Scofield
  • Crime: Attempted armed robbery
  • Sentence: 5 years (parole in two and a half years)
  • Education: Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola University in Chicago with a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering

Michael is Lincoln Burrows's younger brother. He purposely committed armed robbery in order to be sent to Fox River, having devised an elaborate plan to help his brother escape. Both of his parents passed away while he was young. He suffers from low latent inhibition, which allows him to be more aware of his surroundings and incoming stimuli. According to Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. David George Brighton, the low latent inhibition coupled with his high I.Q. has made Michael a creative genius. He also says that Michael became very attuned to the suffering around him, giving him the instinctive desire to help others, even sometimes disregarding his own safety.

Michael was a structural engineer at Maxwell and Schaum in Chicago, IL. During his time there he was part of a project in Fox River where he became very familiar with the prison. Prior to committing armed robbery he had the prison's blueprints tattooed all over his body as well as additional information he needed to break out such as chemical compounds, phone numbers, and images.

Michael was arrested for the attempted armed robbery of a United Savings Bank in Chicago for $500,000. He pled no contest, meaning that he did not object to any of the charges against him. This is different from a guilty plea because Michael did not admit guilt, yet the judge treated his plea as a guilty plea.

Lincoln Burrows

  • Crime: First degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm
  • Sentence: Death without parole
  • Education: High School drop out

Lincoln dropped out of Morgan Park High School during his sophomore year and began his life of crime. Prior to being convicted for the murder of the Vice President's brother, he had been convicted of theft, criminal damage to property, possession of drug paraphernalia, and battery. He and Lisa Rix had a son together, LJ (Lincoln Junior) Burrows.

Lincoln was accused of murdering the vice president's brother, Terrence Steadman, when a parking garage surveillance video showed him committing the murder. He pled not guilty at the trial, but was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death. He has exhausted all of his appeals and his death date is set for May 11 (year unknown).

The day before the planned escape, Lincoln get overzealous when trying to stall a guard from walking in on the escape route on which the inmates were working, causing him to be locked up in solitary confinement.

Fernando Sucre

  • Crime: Two counts of aggravated robbery
  • Sentence: 17 years (parole in one year four months)
  • Education: N/A

Fernando grew up in Chicago where he had several run-ins with the law. His mother sent him to live with a relative in New York City to help him out. There, he found a steady job and his current girlfriend, Maricruz Delgado. When Fernando went back to Illinois to visit some old friends his life took a turn for the worst -- he and his friends held up two liquor stores with unloaded weapons.

Since his incarceration he has had conjugal visits from his girlfriend. He is also Michael's cellmate and is focused on getting out of prison as soon as possible so he can be with his girlfriend again.

John Abruzzi

  • Crime: 2 counts of murder and 2 counts of conspiracy to commit murder
  • Sentence: 120 years without parole
  • Education: Unknown

John Abruzzi, a former Chicago mob boss, is one of the celebrity prisoners in Fox River. He runs prison industry and is the prisoner that every other person looks up to. Otto Fibonacci saw Abruzzi shoot two men execution style and provided eye witness testimony against Abruzzi during his trial. After his incarceration Abruzzi put a hit out on Fibonacci, who entered into the witness protection program. Abruzzi has proven that he will go to great lengths to find Fibonacci, even cutting two of Michael's toes off trying to extract Fibonacci's location from him. Eventually Abruzzi realizes that Michael is not going to be easy to crack, so he decides to keep his enemy close and teams up with Michael to break out of prison.

When T-Bag told his cousin James about the break out plan, Abruzzi ordered one of his men on the outside to make James disappear for a week. The kidnapping went bad, resulting in the death of both James and his son, who was being used as a human shield. Abruzzi, despite being deeply saddened, had his men inside of the prison rough T-Bag up. Badly injured and fearing for his life, T-Bag finally agreed to back out of the escape plan. Abruzzi, recently finding religion as an outlet for his pain, decided not to kill him -- this proved a fatal mistake, as T-Bag immediately took the opportunity to slash Abruzzi's throat.

Theodore Bagwell AKA T-Bag

  • Crime: six counts of kidnapping, rape, and first degree murder
  • Sentence: Life with no parole
  • Education: None

Theodore Bagwell, or T-Bag, has been in and out of jail since he was a boy. As a boy he was often caught vandalizing and being cruel to animals. While in fourth grade he attempted to set his teacher's house on fire and was sentenced to juvenile hall. While there he became a member of the Alliance for Purity, a white supremacy group. As an adult T-Bag started committing more serious crimes such as battery, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, murder, rape, and kidnapping.

T-Bag was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, rape and murder at Donaldson Prison in Alabama. He quickly became the leader of the Alliance for Purity inside the prison, and under his leadership the gang became so powerful inside the prison the warden disbanded it and sent T-Bag to Fox River. Upon seeing that there was no Alliance for Purity members at Fox River he started a new chapter of the gang, its growth granting him significant influence within the prison. He has no qualms about seeking sexual gratification from other inmates, often preying upon younger men new to Fox River.

During a riot, T-Bag discovered part of Michael's escape route and threatened to tell the guards if Michael and the others did not include him. Despite their unanimous disgust for T-Bag, the others had no choice but to agree. However, when it is discovered that the group has one too many for a successful escape, John Abruzzi gives T-Bag an ultimatum: back out of the escape or die. In an unexpected twist, T-Bag kills Abruzzi by slashing his throat.

Charles Westmoreland

  • Crime: aggravated vehicular hijacking, vehicular invasion, involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide
  • Sentence: Sixty years to life
  • Education: Unknown

Westmoreland is one of Fox River's longest-serving inmates, having served twenty-eight years. Michael has come to believe that he may be the famous airline highjacker D.B. Cooper, which Charles initially denied. A grandfather clause in the prison's policy allowed him to keep a grey cat named Marylin. A relatively quiet and gentle man, Westmoreland has taken great pains to stay out of other people's business, including Michael's escape attempt at first, despite Michael's efforts to recruit him. He and Captain Bellick enjoyed a mutual respect for many years until Westmoreland refused to tell Bellick what he'd seen after a guard was murdered during a prison riot.

When asked to join in the escape, Westmoreland refused; every time Michael tried to get him to admit that he was, in fact, D.B. Cooper, he would deny it. However, upon learning that he would not be allowed to visit his terminally ill daughter until after her death, Westmoreland became desperate to escape. He finally confirmed that he was D.B. Cooper by showing Michael a one hundred dollar bill from the fabled hijacking.

C-Note

  • Crime: Unknown
  • Sentence: Unknown
  • Education: Unknown

C-Note, the prison "pharmacist", became suspicious of the PI crew when he saw them emptying ground up pieces of cement across the prison yard. After Abruzzi was briefly replaced by Gus Fiorello, C-Note bribed him to work in PI. He discovered the hole that Michael and crew had dug as part of the escape plan. When Abruzzi regained control of PI, C-Note threatened the crew to let him on board or he would tell the guards. He is the sixth member of the group that is attempting to break out of Fox River.

Prison Staff

Dr. Sara Tancredi

Sara has wanted to be a doctor since she was very young. While at Northwestern University in Chicago she was introduced to the works of Mahatma Gandhi and decided to become a humanitarian. Sara is one of the few doctors at Fox River and is responsible for everything from administering drugs to performing emergency surgery.

Her father, "Frontier Justice" Frank Tancredi, is the governor of Illinois. Sara doesn't have much of a relationship with her father because of differing beliefs and his absence during much of her childhood.

Sara knows that Michael is different than the other prisoners and cannot figure out what would possess him to rob a bank and end up in prison. She searches for clues about Michael's background, and though she knows that something is utterly suspicious, she can't help having a crush on him. Sara becomes jealous though and distances herself from Michael when she discovers he had a conjugal visit from his wife.

Warden Henry Pope

Henry Pope has been the warden at Fox River for eighteen years. He's dedicated to making sure prisoners become productive members of society after they are released so he has organized the prison industry program, which allows inmates to gain real work experience. He also runs an educational program that allows inmates to receive their GED and even bachelor degrees. He has been married to his wife Judith for 39 years.

For his 40th wedding anniversary, Henry wants to give Judith a replica of the Taj Mahal. However, he poorly constructed it and has enlisted to help of Michael to make sure the structure is self-sustaining. Michael has used this time to help himself further his escape plan.

Captain Brad Bellick

Captain Bellick has wanted to be a correctional officer his entire life. He began at Fox River shortly after graduating high school and has been there ever since. He believes that the purpose of prison is to punish inmates, not rehabilitate them, so he and the warden do not always see eye to eye on issues.

Outside Supporters

Veronica Donovan

Veronica dated Lincoln while they were in high school despite them being two very different people. She moved away from the city life of Chicago to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received a B.A. in political science. After receiving her juris doctorate from Baylor Law School, she moved back to Chicago. Although she is not a criminal lawyer, she defended Michael at his trial and is also working around the clock to free Lincoln.

Nick Savrinn

Nick graduated from Columbia Law School and turned down offers from many large firms in New York City to work for Project Justice, an organization that frees wrongly convicted people. During his time there he has freed nine death row inmates. Although Project Justice refused to help Veronica with Lincoln's case, Nick has been doing pro bono work because he believes Lincoln is innocent.

Lincoln Burrows, Jr. ("LJ")

LJ was a normal teenager living in the Chicago suburbs until his father, Lincoln, lost his final appeal. That, coupled with Michael being sentenced to five years in prison, hit LJ hard. He was arrested for possession of marijuana and put on probation. After his mother and step father, Adrian, were murdered, a warrant was put out for LJ's arrest since Agents Kellerman and Hale framed him for the murders.

Lisa Rix

Lisa is LJ's mother and was previously in a relationship with Lincoln. She and her husband, Adrian, were murdered by Agents Kellerman and Hale. LJ has been accused of their deaths.

Conspiracy Members

Agent Paul Kellerman & Agent Danny Hale

Both of these Secret service agents were commissioned by the Vice President to make sure that Lincoln Burrows is executed. They have gone to great lengths to do this, and many times their plans are foiled. They killed Lisa Rix and Adrian, who were LJ's mother and step father, and attempted to kill LJ. They've also killed Veronica's janitor, and attempted to kill Veronica and Nick. Currently they are looking for Nick, Veronica, and LJ. Hale, a family man, has begun to grow more and more disillusioned with their work as several innocent people have been killed and the personal risk to the two agents has increased, though Kellerman is usually able to keep him in line. Both are troubled by a new individual the Vice President recruited to supervise them. However, they are able to eliminate him from the picture when the man is stuck in a well and they refuse to help. Agent Hale begins to have second thoughts and decides not to kill LJ when the opportunity arises. He also calls Veronica and offers to meet her to give her information on Lincoln's case.

Quinn

Quinn is put in charge of supervising Agents Kellerman and Hale. He seems to be careless and neurotic, but he is actually observant, intelligent, and ruthless. He breaks Agent Kellerman's fingers and kills Veronica's ex-fiance in order to get to her. Once he finds Nick's secluded cabin he cuts his face with sandpaper to appear hurt, thereby convincing Nick to let him in. He then shoots Nick and ties up Veronica and LJ. Quinn is eventually pushed down a dry well by LJ, breaking his leg. He calls Agents Kellerman and Hale for assistance, but they respond by pulling a cover over the well and leaving him there to die.

Vice President Caroline Reynolds

The Vice President's brother was murdered and Lincoln Burrows was blamed for the crime. She and many others have put a great deal of effort to make sure Lincoln dies for this crime that he did not commit. Recently she announced her candidacy for President of the United States in her hometown of Montgomery, Illinois.

Trivia

13 prisons have banned the screening of Prison Break.

Actor Stacy Keach was himself incarcerated for several months in a British prison for drug offenses in the 1980's. The Warden of that prison would serve as the basis for Warden Pope.

Cast

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