20 Things You Didn't Know About Prison Break
3. Shock Value
In the state of Illinois, capital punishment has been prohibited since 2011. However, before then, lethal injection had been the default method of execution, replacing the electric chair in 1983 as it was deemed more humane.
Season One was set during 2005, so with that information in mind, one would of expected Lincoln Burrows to be put to death by lethal injection. Instead, Purcell's character was due to meet his maker at the hands of the electric chair.
Pun fully intended, the creative team opted to use the chair for shock value. It certainly paid off, as the device played a key factor in one of the most gripping and tense moments in the entire show.
If the execution had been successful, the fictional Burrows would have been the first person to be put to death in Illinois since Chicago's real life Ripper Crew member, Andrew Kokoraleis in 1999.