page_title: Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System
section_title: Today
hierarchical_section_title: Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System / Today
caption_attribution_description: English: prisoner wearing hancuffs with a "blue box" security cover, secured with a chain around his waist and a padlock Deutsch: Gefangener in Handschellen mit "Blue Box" Sicherheitsverschluss, fixiert mit einer Bauchkette und gesichert mit einem Vorhängeschloss
context_page_description: The Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, nicknamed "Con Air", or ICE Air is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with the transportation of persons in legal custody among 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.
  The agency is managed by the United States Marshals Service out of the JPATS headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. JPATS was formed in 1995 from the merger of the Marshals Service air fleet with that of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. JPATS completes more than 260,000 prisoner/alien movements per year. 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 World Airport was built especially to facilitate prisoner transport on JPATS.
context_section_description: Today's JPATS fleet has expanded to three full-sized aircraft. These planes fly a large series of routes that serve nearly every major U.S. city.
  The flight schedules are kept secret from the public, and are known only to those directly involved in its operation. Inmates scheduled to fly are given little or no advance notice of their flight, to deter escapes and sabotage, and to prevent harm from outsiders.
  Passengers aboard a flight are restrained with handcuffs as well as ankle and waist chains which are double- or even triple-locked. Those who pose additional danger may be forced to wear additional restraints, such as reinforced mittens that completely isolate and almost completely immobilize the hands, handcuff covers which conceal the keyholes, and face masks to prevent biting and spitting. However, due to FAA regulations inmates are not physically restrained to their seats in any way except for seat belts used during takeoff and landing.
  Flight and seating arrangements are made carefully with the intent to separate inmates who may  conflict with one another. Members of rival prison gangs may be transported on different days to help reduce the risk of an in-flight incident.
  Unlike the practice of most jails, male and female inmates fly together on the same planes.
caption: Prisoner in handcuffs augmented with a handcuff cover and belly chains
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