

" Perhaps the most conspicuous tattoos are the ones that are on Michael’s palms: the face of Jacob Anton Ness, leader of 21 Void. One can also spot an encoded quote from Napoleon, which says: " Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. While the attached interpretations are not clear, it is speculated that some tattoos are coded in Arabic, including references to online message boards such as, which contained images of Harlan Gaines’ murder. RELATED: Prison Break's Revival Finale ExplainedĪpart from these hidden messages, Michael’s sports new tattoos in Season 5, which assume centerpiece as opposed to Seasons 3 and 4. In exchange for an escape to Mexico, Pedro Ramos (Coyote) asks for a box of nitroglycerin, which Michael has hidden in the botanical gardens at the Apache Desert Ghost exhibit.

Here is a breakdown of the key hidden messages in Michael Scofield’s tattoos in Prison Break. Being a gifted structural engineer who had designed the prison’s layout himself, Michael disguises his plans through Gothic-styled tattoos that showcase a battle between angels and demons, along with literary and religious motifs. It is revealed in “Brother's Keeper”, Episode 16 of the first season, that the idea of hiding an escape blueprint in plain sight came from a tattoo-clad pizza delivery man, who Michael had taken note of.

#PRISON BREAK TATTOO MOVIE#
RELATED: Why Shawshank Redemption Is Still IMDb’s Top Rated Movie Of All Time This design helped bind episodic conclusions together and granted a tangible representation of the complexity of the escape. Due to the significance of the tattoos in terms of Prison Break ’s plot, the design for Michael’s elaborate ink would take four to five hours to apply, wherein 24 individual decals would have to be “fit together like a puzzle.” While his back is etched with the layout of the prison, the tattoos on his torso reveal a map of underground escape passageways. Michael turns this trope on its head, as his trip to jail is an elaborate fabrication to facilitate his brother’s freedom and the tattoos serve more like a blueprint than an echo of his prison life. P rison tattoos, in general, tend to signify an inmate’s reflection of prison life, common motifs being clock facets, spider webs, gang symbols, or prison bars, which showcase a greater commitment to their criminal lifestyles. An amalgamation of 24 tattoo designs come together to create Michael’s signature body art, which is essentially a decoy for concealing an escape plan for his brother, Lincoln. Michael’s tattoos are a focal point right from the first frame of Season 1’s “Pilot”, as it features his preparations for the final stages of his plan to infiltrate Fox River Penitentiary while finishing touches are applied to his tattoos. While there is ambiguity as to whether Prison Break will be revived, the show garnered massive popularity due to its promising original plans and obvious inspirations from The Shawshank Redemption. Here’s a deep-dive into every hidden message in Michael Scofield’s tattoos in Prison Break.
