in the series pilot, michael's jail entrance form held by bellick shows that the character was born on september 8, 1978 in toledo, ohio (and the date in the "prison break: the conspiracy" game states july 2, 1972. the birthdate is inconsistent with the characters' dialogue in later episodes. in "by the skin and the teeth", michael remarks to lincoln that their fathers left them thirty years ago. since the series is set in the year 2005, the birth date shown on the prop cannot be considered as canon. thus michael is 27 years old since last episode in season 3, "vamonos", took place on june 24, 2005. this is according to the expired one week ultimatum given by the company to michael for breaking out james whistler. his age is stated by lincoln for the first time in "five the hard way" as 31, meaning all the facts above cannot be canon. it's also stated michael is born in 1976 in the episode "the mother lode", but in "killing your number" it's retconned to october 8, 1974.