Kind of an interesting question, and I understand all the answers. I encountered the same thing on a flight from ORD to SAT a few weeks ago. By chance, I lost my E+ seat and wound up in the last row of coach next to the restrooms and galley. I noticed two men sitting on either side of another man who had a blanket over his hands and waist. At first I didn't think much of it, but as the flight went along and I noticed that the guy in the middle seat never moved his hands or blanket, it became pretty clear what was going on. My thoughts were confirmed when we landed and one of the other two men called for airport police and a transfer for his prisoner. Made me wonder if the guy was being transported to SAT to testify or if he had to go to Chicago to testify. Not really disconcerting, but unique to see a guy in cuffs on a plane.

Having a prisoner on board would not bother me at all except in the event of an evacuation. Someone in handcuffs is going to have a hard time getting out of the plane and cloud block other people from getting out quickly.

It's more economical to fly 2 cops and a prisoner a long distance than to transport them in a van.
If anything, the presence of police should make the flight safer

As a ER Physician I on occasion see an arestee or a prisoner from the local jail and generally they are extremely polite and not threatening the slightest, sometimes they are more polite than the Officer escorting them.

Granted, if the arestee is drunk or high that can be a different story (and then it is time to administer a tranquilizer), but I am guessing that the Officer/s escorting a Prisoner on a plane do not allow them to buy anything from the bar cart in the first place.

The only time I've seen prisoner transport has been in Hawaii on HA flights. A van is obviously not an option.

Still better than Spirit!! :D:p

a lot of the illegal imigrants get shipped home on "silver bird". they are extremely passive individuals, but are cuffed before they make the trip from IAD back to the third world. they number in the thousands every year.

Sorry to disagree, but I'm just the opposite.

I could NOT care less (but I could care more).

No worries, as the saying goes, to each his/her own.

I wouldn't like to be on a flight with some huge criminal drug king pin that is facing the death penalty and has nothing to lose and has thousands of comrades willing to do anything to free him.

I can see why someone would like to know that.

I've seen a Spirit chartered flight where they boarded on the tarmac. All the passengers were prisoners.

I've also seen the police wait at the gate for a person to come off the plane and then they were arrested. It looked like the man voluntarily surrendered and was expecting to be met by the police.

I don't know it as a fact but I'll bet all the money in my pockets that high profile prisoners are not on public transportation for exactly this reason.

That is never going to happen. Someone like that will be transported - probably by the Marshal's Service - by private transport, probably a corporate-style jet.

you are over reacting

Look for two men that always stand shoulder-to-shoulder. One of them will have his hands together near his waist, with a jacket wrapped around his hands.