the character was conceived after paul scheuring, "prison break"'s creator, developed an idea by another producer, about a man who deliberately imprisons himself to break somebody out. from the initial proposal, scheuring then justified the character and story by making him a structural engineer who worked at the architecture firm that had access to the prison's blueprints. the name was originally used in roald dahl's collection of short stories, "someone like you", as michael scofield.