mitchell has had recurring guest roles in such television series as "24" as eli stram; numb3rs; "my name is earl" as earl's ex-con friend donny jones; and "prison break" as escapee charles "haywire" patoshik. on the dvd commentary for "prison break", he mentions he had previously auditioned for the roles of theodore "t-bag" bagwell and lincoln burrows. mitchell plays the role of an insane prison inmate in both "prison break" and "my name is earl". he also appears in "rat race" (2001) as lloyd (the hardware store guy), and in "the whole ten yards" as yermo.