The Airline You Never Want To Fly On

The US federal government transports thousands of prisoners by air each month. A few decades ago, this was done using regular commercial flights. You may have even been on a flight where a prisoner in shackles and an orange jumpsuit appeared, always accompanied by two US Marshals, and was typically the last to board and the first to disembark.

But commercial flights are far from ideal for transporting prisoners. Aside from the obvious security risk and creating fear among passengers, commercial flights are often not convenient for the unique departure and arrival needs of the US Marshals Service (USMS). To say nothing of the costs to the government of purchasing thousands of last-minute tickets each week.

Photo: USMS

JPATS: The real life “Con Air”

To solve these challenges, the USMS started contracting private charter airlines such as MGM Grand Air to provide dedicated flights for groups of prisoners. Its successor, Champion Air, expanded on this and utilized numerous Boeing 727s for its services with the USMS. While not glamorous like the partnerships it had with NBA teams at the time, the business of transporting prisoners always had steady demand and the contract was very lucrative.

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Champion Air catered to niche markets, including sports teams and vacation charters.

However, as the USMS sought greater efficiencies, it ultimately chose to create its own fleet of aircraft in partnership with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 1995, it formed the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS), nicknamed “Con Air”, with the ICAO designator DOJ and the callsign JUSTICE.

Photo: USMS

You must be indicted to be invited

JPATS supervises over 100,000 prisoner movements by air every year, serving 42 domestic and international cities. Its primary hub is at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport, which is also home to The Federal Transfer Center (FTC). The FTC is the central hub of the federal prison system, housing offenders awaiting assignment to a permanent facility. Most inmates who enter the federal prison system come through the FTC at some point, being transported in and out by JPATS.

Photo: Google Maps

The FTC is located immediately adjacent to the airport, with taxiways providing direct access from the runway to the prison’s apron. Inmates being transported by JPATS board its aircraft directly from the FTC via a skybridge.

The JPATS flight schedules are understandably not published, and are only known to those directly involved in each flight. A JPATS aircraft will typically cover 4-6 legs a day, and inmates that are scheduled to fly are given little or no advance notice of their flight, in an effort to deter escapes, sabotage or harm from outsiders.

The in-flight experience

While the layout of a JPATS aircraft is almost indistinguishable from regular commercial aircraft, the service onboard is obviously quite a bit different. All passengers are restrained with handcuffs and ankle and waist chains, but are not restrained in their seats due to FAA regulations. Any inmates with behavioral records or posing additional danger may be forced to wear additional restraints, including face masks to prevent biting and spitting.

Photo: USMS

Particular attention is paid to flight and seating arrangements. Passengers that may be a danger to each other, such as members of rival gangs, are put on separate flights to mitigate the risk of an in-flight incident. And even low risk inmates are typically seated separately from each other to prevent any onboard conflict. Notably, JPATS flies both male and female prisoners on the same flights, and they are also kept separated at the front and back of the aircraft.

Photo: USMS

An aging fleet

JPATS historically flew McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, but from about ten years ago it started transitioning to a Boeing 737 fleet. It currently has four of the type in service:

• N279AD: Boeing 737-400 – originally delivered to Pegasus in 1992
• N640CS: Boeing 737-400 – originally delivered to Turkish Airlines in 1993
• N738A: Boeing 737-700 – originally delivered to Saudi Aramco in 2000
• N311MS: Boeing 737-800 – originally delivered to Miami Air International in 2004

Photo: USMS

Interestingly, JPATS is one of just a couple of remaining operators of the B737-400 in the US today. But with an average fleet of 27 years, JPATS is now looking to replace the -400 Classics with -800 NGs that are starting to leave service with commercial airlines.

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Frequent flyers and modern culture references

While JPATS is virtually unknown to most Americans, many of its passengers are much more famous. Most of those arrested for January 6th-related crimes, including the ‘QAnon Shaman’, have flown aboard JPATS. With over 1,400 individuals charged across nearly all 50 states as of June 2024, this group has kept the fleet particularly busy.

Famous fliers include Ghislaine Maxwell, who has had numerous flights from her arrest in New Hampshire to trial in New York and eventual incarceration in Tallahassee. Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly had to be shuttled back and forth between multiple indictments and trials in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis. But perhaps the inmate with the most frequent flier miles on JPATS is US gymnastics sexual predator, Larry Nasser, who has had to be transferred between multiple prisons in Michigan, Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida and Pennsylvania after being repeatedly assaulted while incarcerated.

Photo: IMDB

JPATS has also featured or been referenced in numerous films and television shows, including:

• Con Air (1997) is the film that gave JPATs its nickname, but diverges greatly from reality. It is set on a Fairchild C-123 Provider, never actually operated by JPATS, and its interior resembled a prison whereas JPATS aircraft seating doesn’t differ from most airliners.
• US Marshals (1998) depicted the manhunt for a prisoner who escapes following the crash of a JPATS flight. Ironically, Wesley Snipes, who played the escapee, would go on to fly on the real JPATS after a conviction for federal tax evasion.
• Orange Is the New Black episode “Thirsty Bird” (2014), goes into detail on the JPATS transportation of a prisoner from New York to Chicago, with US Marshals shown staffing the flight, and prisoners (both male and female) boarding from various locations.

While the service provided by JPATS is a vital one, both the flight and the destination are deeply unpleasant at best. For aviation geeks, this is one airline to observe with curiosity and interest, but hope to never have to fly on it.

Have you ever seen a JPATS aircraft in operation, or perhaps even flown aboard one? What are your thoughts about this largely invisible airline service? Tell us what you think in the comments.