The Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS), nicknamed "Con Air", is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with the transportation of persons in legal custody between prisons, detaining 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 over 350,000 prisoner/alien movements per year. Air fleet operations are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with hubs in Anchorage, Alaska; Mesa, Arizona; Alexandria, Louisiana; 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.
Usually, the airline employs Boeing 727 or McDonnell-Douglas MD-83 aircraft to transport convicts and illegal residents of the United States for extradition. Smaller jets and turboprops are also used to transport individual prisoners who are considered particularly dangerous.
According to the Boeing Jetliner Databook, JPATS operates four Boeing 727s. JPATS also operates an additional four McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft.
JPATS aircraft use the ICAO designator DOJ with the callsign JUSTICE.
During ATC Zero immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all civilian air service, JPATS was the only non-military air service allowed to continue flying in U.S. airspace.
Read more about Justice Prisoner And Alien Transportation System: History and Evolution, JPATS Today, Pop Culture References
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