Charles "Haywire" Patoshik is a supporting character in Seasons 1 and 2 of the television series Prison Break. He suffered from mental illness and was imprisoned for murdering his parents. He later became one of the Fox River Eight and met his demise when he was on the run and Mahone convinced him to kill himself.
He was portrayed by Silas Weir Mitchell, who also portrayed Ken Olson in Dexter and Cyrus Lebrun in Criminal Minds: Evolution.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Patoshik had a doctorate degree in mathematics from Harvard. He won four mathematician of the year awards. He began to exhibit signs of mental illness during his intense studies. Eventually he snapped, killing both of his parents with a shotgun. He had no history of violent behavior prior to this, and offered no motive for the crime (he claimed to not remember doing it at all). He was diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies and was committed to the Psychiatric Ward of Fox River, where he earned the nickname "Haywire". He also has a fear of crowds. While talking to Haywire, Mahone said to him, "I know you killed your parents because they hurt you, and I know you killed that guy yesterday because he was hurting Sasha, but what you did... It was wrong." This statement shows that Charles lived in an abusive house-hold, which could have been the main contributing factor for his mental illness.
Incarceration[]
Haywire was temporarily Michael's cellmate after Sucre requested and received a cell transfer. After Haywire expressed to Michael that he has no interest in escaping, he got in the way of Michael's plan because of his "neuroanatomic lesion affecting his reticular activating system," so he "doesn't sleep. At all." Haywire later becomes obsessed with Michael's tattoos, realizing that he is hiding something inside of them. Michael faked an assault and got Haywire a hotshot and transferred back to psychiatric ward. Several episodes later, Michael seeks Haywire's help in remembering a part of the tattoo that he had lost to the burn on his back.
Eventually Michael is forced to include Haywire in the escape after he found out about the plan. Haywire escapes with the other inmates soon after. When the other escapees tricked him into leaving their escape van by feigning loss of the keys and driving off without him, Haywire pilfered a bicycle and a football helmet from a nearby home and is last seen riding the bicycle with both arms outstretched down an empty road.
On the Run[]
After keeping a low profile during the aftermath of the escape, Haywire eventually resurfaces in a Cedar Grove, Wisconsin Dairy Queen. After gorging himself on some soda and ice cream, some teenaged employees enter, and panic once they see Haywire. He escapes to a home in the suburbs, where he meets a Billy's mother who supposedly mistakes him for her son "Billy", which supposedly ran away in order to get married to his loved one. After getting a new set of clothing, Haywire sees a picture of a windmill in the countryside. He becomes enthralled by the picture and asks the older woman where it is. She replies that it is in Holland, where she grew up. She then grasps his hand, but can tell by the feel of it (or perhaps by the lack of a wedding ring) that it's not Billy's hand. She called the local authorities to report a home intruder. Haywire quickly escaped the home without harming her, but not without stealing the portrait of the Holland countryside.
Haywire is next seen stealing a map and various other accessories from a sporting goods store. When he realizes the shopkeeper is not physically able to catch him, he runs off with the merchandise, but the shopkeeper's border collie gives chase. He is about to kill the dog, but manages to peacefully pacify it with food. Later, Haywire and the dog are at the shore of Lake Michigan, with Haywire studying a map and the painting. He tells the dog he wants to build a raft and row across the lake towards Holland, where he's planning to start a new life in a windmill.
While scrounging wood for his raft, Haywire is approached by two teenagers, Sasha and Matt, and asked to buy beer for them. Haywire agrees as long as he can buy some food for his dog, now named Larry. They agree, and say he can keep a beer for himself, but Haywire refuses, saying that his dad drank. After buying the beer, they ask what he needs the wood for, and he tells them it's for his raft, and invited them to take a look at it. While showing his map of how to get to Holland (the painting he stole earlier), he notices Sasha has bruises on her wrists. When confronted about them, she tells him her dad drinks as well.
Later in the evening, Matt drops off Sasha at her house while Haywire watches. Upon noticing Sasha's abusive father is preparing to beat her, Haywire breaks in and beats him to death.
After killing Sasha's stepfather, he runs off to his shelter of sorts. He takes off towards a grain elevator when spotted by Brad Bellick. Isolated atop the grain elevator, Haywire waits for awhile. Mahone shows up at the scene, and goes up to talk to him. After being told that he does not have to go to prison, but can't go to Holland either, Haywire becomes distraught. He jumps to his death, with no attempts from Mahone nor Bellick to stop him. He dies looking at the painting of Holland, a look of peace crossing his face, as he is finally going somewhere beautiful, free of the horrors of life.
Victims[]
- Mr. Patoshik
- Mrs. Patoshik
- Wayne Murray
Trivia[]
- Haywire is the third member of the Fox River Eight to be taken down by authorities and the third member of the Fox River Eight to die.
- He is the second member whose death was caused, albeit indirectly, by Mahone.
Gallery[]
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