13 (shortened due to a writers’ strike) Just when they think they are free, Michael and Lincoln are trapped again—this time in the hellish Sona prison in Panama. Sona is a lawless, inmate-run facility where violence is the only currency. This season is dark, claustrophobic, and brutal. It strips the show back to its survival roots.

The third season takes place several years after the events of the second season. Michael and his team are on the run in Mexico, where they get involved in a complicated plot involving a cartel and a wealthy businessman.

As the season progresses, we learn more about the conspiracy surrounding Lincoln's wrongful conviction and the involvement of the sinister Captain Brad Bellick (played by Wade Williams) and the prison's corrupt administration.

The series begins with Michael Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller) getting a tattoo of the prison's layout on his body. He then gets himself incarcerated in Fox River, where he reunites with his brother Lincoln (played by Dominic Purcell). Michael's plan to break out Lincoln and other inmates, including Fernando Sucre (played by Amaury Nolasco) and Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (played by Robert Knepper), is set in motion.