Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System
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Formed in 1995 when the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the United States Marshals Service merged their air fleets, the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) transports more than a quarter million prisoners and aliens each year. Run by the Marshals Service, all scheduling is handled at JPATS headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Air fleet operations are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with hubs in: Anchorage, Alaska; Mesa, Arizona; Alexandria, Louisiana; and the Virgin Islands.
Usually, the airline employs Boeing 727s to transport convicts and illegal residents of the United States for extradition. But small jets are also used to transport individual prisoners who are considered particularly dangerous.
According to the Boeing Jetliner Databook, JPATS operates 4 Boeing 727s. JPATS aircraft use the ICAO designator DOJ with the callsign JUSTICE
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.
[edit] References in pop culture
The 1997 Nicolas Cage movie Con Air was set on this airline. "Con Air" was already a nickname for JPATS (historically it had referred to Continental Airlines). The movie portrays the interior of the plane (a C-123 Provider) as a much steelier, more prison-like environment than a typical JPATS 727, which in reality looks much like any other airliner.
The Wesley Snipes movie U.S. Marshals depicted the story of a flight from this airline that crashed.
