Lessons from Prison Break serial

Happened to watch 4 seasons of prison break. Good serial-some 70+ episodes, story of how a structural engineer gets into prison to break out his brother, who was framed by a mafia outfit called the company. Besides being entertaining, serial teaches us several tactical info we should be aware of, to prevent possible troubles from bad guys.


It was overall entertaining,  but in 4th season I felt it was unnecessarily being dragged. Also it didn't give me answer to one key factor. If I was to be on the run always, my primary concern would be day to day food supplies. Through out the serial food was never a concern and it wasn't certain how these convicts on the run fed themselves without being caught. (while buying or otherwise)


These are the lessons to be learnt from Prison break

Your family can be your weak point. If you’re planning serious missions, move your family to a safe place. Train them on basic life saving skills, surveillance techniques and how to avoid being snooped or traced while communicating. Capturing family members will be the easiest thing for your enemies to do in order to extract information. Better not to share certain sensitive information for them, because they may part with the information under pressure.

Understand that most of the communication and transactions can be traced. Do not wire transfer money to your loved ones, do not communicate over listed phone numbers. Do not make credit card purchases. All these can be easily traced.

If you have a gun and your enemy in front of you, just shoot.  Even after you shoot, ensure that they’re fully dead and take away things like phones and weapons from them. The Prison break serial would have had a lot less episodes if the key characters were shot when there was an opportunity. If you let your enemy lose with some warning or otherwise, he will come back to haunt you later.

If you’re building a prison, do watch this serial to make it Scofield Proof.

Do not lose hope. If your arm is cut, it can be rejoined, if you manage to find a doctor and go to him with your arm in a cold storage. If someone says somebody is dead, it needn’t be. Confirm it

There’s nothing called permanent friends or permanent enemies. When situation changes, your friend can turn into your enemy and enemy into friend. Stay alert.

Just because someone points a gun at you, doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself. Look for opportunities.

If you’ve tied someone to a chair or a pole or something, periodically check if the knot/seal is intact. The person might be trying to break himself/herself free by scratching the seal or some other means.

If you’re transporting an enemy, ensure that he is properly tied and there’s no chance of he/she getting his/her hands on something with which he/she can break free.

Keep some record/evidence to the conversations. Can come handy if someone is trying to frame you.

When someone says “Do this for us and we’ll let you go free”, they may have every intention of killing you once their purpose is served. Plan your defense.

Objectives that can’t be achieved by using force, can be achieved by smart planning.

Each team member may have is personal objectives and agenda. Keep an eye on them. They might be forced to betray under the threat or temptation

One small mistake by a member of the team can jeopardize the whole plan. One simple phone call to family or dropping something behind or wasting time etc can make all the difference between success and failure.

If you're planning to escape, DO NOT BUY one way ticket. Buy two way ticket, even if it means few extra dollars. One way tickets instantly give away your intentions. If you're planning to take someone with you and kill them at the destination, do book return ticket for that person also.

Doors are not the only way to enter a building. There're air ducts, lifts,windows...

Learn to observe things and keep looking for odds. A bible salesman wearing expensive ring, a commando wearing shoes that is not part of his uniform should hint you something is wrong. Don't do these mistakes when faking things.

Wipe off your fingerprints before leaving rooms you searched.

If you want more, watch the serial.

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