Member-only story

Flying Prisoners

A look at ConAir, the most efficient and dangerous airline in the sky

Jordan Fraser
5 min readAug 22, 2019
Photo by Izzy Gerosa on Unsplash

Completing over 350,000 flights a year, the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) is the most efficient airline you never want to fly with.

Run by the United States Marshal Service, JPATS (also known as ConAir) is responsible for forcibly transporting people of all kinds. This can include prison inmates, those being extradited, and those being deported.

ConAir uses a variety of means to transport people, ranging from large Boeing 737–400 commercial aircrafts, to small private planes, depending on what the situation needs.

The department has drawn a lot of criticism for mistreating those they’ve transported, and a higher than expected casualty rate for those being recklessly transported on the ground.

They’re also drawing focus for being the transportation method of choice for ICE, who are deporting people in record volumes under Trumps administration.

Photo: Aviation Oil Outlet

So what’s it like being flown with ConAir?

--

--

Jordan Fraser
Jordan Fraser

Responses (1)