thumb|A U.S. Marshal on a "Con Air" flight (c. 2000)

thumb|Patch of JPATS, Air Operations Division, Air Crew.

The Justice Prisoner Air Transportation System (JPATS; formerly Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System before December 2024; nicknamed "Con Air") is a United States Marshals Service (USMS) airline charged with the transportation of persons in legal custody between prisons, detention centers, courthouses, and other locations. It is the largest prison transport network in the world. Though primarily used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, JPATS also assists military and state law enforcement. Marshals involved in prisoner transportation are referred to as Aviation Enforcement Officers (AEOs).

The agency is managed by the USMS out of the JPATS headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Air fleet operations are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with hubs in Las Vegas, Nevada; Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Additionally, the Federal Transfer Center at Oklahoma City's Will Rogers International Airport was built especially to facilitate prisoner transport on JPATS.

Usually, the airline employs Boeing 737 aircraft to transport convicts and illegal residents of the United States for extradition and/or deportation. Smaller jets and turboprops may also be used to transport individual prisoners who are considered particularly dangerous or notorious, as well as individuals in the witness protection program.

According to the Marshals Service, JPATS owns and operates four Boeing 737s.

Prior to the existence of JPATS, the air transport of federal inmates over long distances was complicated. The process required an escort by two U.S. Marshals, accompanying the inmate on a regular passenger airplane. This posed numerous problems, including danger to civilians, a backlog of marshals needed to perform such escorts, and a high taxpayer expense.

On August 20, 1985, the U.S. Marshals were offered a transfer from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of a Boeing 727 aircraft. Though no purpose was originally designated for this plane, one official had the idea of using it for the mass transportation of federal inmates. JPATS' predecessor was the National Prisoner Transportation System of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The airline ultimately improved the efficiency of inmate transportation and made the sight of a shackled commercial airline passenger largely a thing of the past. For a plane full of 200 inmates, only 12 marshals are required. Marshals are trained with aircraft emergency procedures very similar to those flight attendants learn to protect the aircraft's occupants, though no data shows the efficiency of this training.

Today

thumb|Prisoners deplaning (c. 2000)|right

Today's JPATS fleet has expanded to four full-sized aircraft.

Fleet

, JPATS operates the following aircraft:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin:1em auto;"

|+Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System fleet

|- style="background:red;"

! style="width:125px;" rowspan="1" | Aircraft

! style="width:60px;" rowspan="1" | In service

! style="width:60px;" rowspan="1" | Orders

! Passengers

! rowspan="1" | Notes

|-

|Boeing 737-400

|2

|—

|126

|

|-

|Boeing 737-700

|1

|—

|—

|

|-

|Boeing 737-800

|2

|—

|—

|

|-

!Total

!5

!

!

|-

|}

Fleet development

, JPATS was seeking to purchase an additional Boeing 737-700 or Boeing 737-800 to replace one of its current Boeing 737-400 aircraft.

  • Con Air (1997), starring Nicolas Cage, was inspired by the operations of the agency, with the title being a reference to its nickname. The film is set on a Fairchild C-123 Provider, an aircraft that JPATS never actually operated, and its interior more closely resembles a prison than actual JPATS aircraft, which do not significantly differ from most airliners. The film's screenplay explains this by saying that the prisoners on the flight are "the worst of the worst", including several serial killers and mass murderers.
  • U.S. Marshals (1998) depicted the story of a JPATS Flight 343, a Boeing 727-200 that crashed during flight and the manhunt for a prisoner who escapes following the crash.
  • The Freakazoid! episode "Island of Dr. Mystico" features an airline named "Prison Air", a parody of JPATS.
  • In The Unusuals episode "The Dentist" (2009), Det. Eddie Alvarez asks suspended U.S. Marshal and suspected felon Ben Foster if he will be transporting a prisoner via "JPATS". Marshal Foster appears confused until Det. Alvarez explains that it is the "Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System". Marshal Foster then confirms the prisoner will be transported via JPATS, however he is really breaking the prisoner out of custody after robbing the police precinct of valuable evidence against a criminal.
  • In the Orange Is the New Black episode "Thirsty Bird" (2014), prisoner Piper Chapman is transported on a JPATS plane for a transfer from Litchfield prison in New York to a Chicago detention facility. US Marshals are shown doing prisoner pat-downs before boarding and then staffing the flight. Prisoners are shown boarding the flight from various locations, including both males and females.
  • The Last Frontier (2025) a series that depicts a fictional JPATS plane crash and the manhunt for the fugitives who escaped in the aftermath.
  • In The Rookie episode "Grand Theft Aircraft" (2026) closely mimics The Last Frontier where the JPATS plane is briefly hijacked by a compromised pilot, whose family was being held hostage. The pilot attempts to land the plane at a separate airfield that is occupied by a private military built by one of the prisoners on the plane. The plane instead crash lands in LA and the prisoners are all freed by the private military and let loose into the city.

References

Notes

Bibliography