Flying Felons
 

Have you ever flown on a plane that was transporting a prisoner/convict/felon, etc?

Does the govt usually fly these convicts first class? The case of this fellow who's flying over from Thailand got me wondering about how such a person would be transported. I'm just assuming he'd fly first class since it'd be easier to control him.

Yes, I've been on a flight from Hawaii to the mainland with prisoners on board (as I suspect many of us have whether we knew it or not). The prisoners board first and deplane last. They sit in the last row of coach with armed but non-uniformed police officers. I don't know if I can remember all the specifics, but I believe they have the window seat and are cuffed to the arm rest. There are more officers on board than prisoners so when one needs to use the lav one officer inspects the lav, then the prisoner goes, then an officer again inspects. You wouldn't have known prisoners were on this flight had you not been watching the ground activity in advance (and gotten to see the paperwork on this, which my husband was privy to). The vehicle transporting the prisoners pulled up to the plane prior to everyone else boarding and the prisoners boarded via stairs, while other passengers were in the gate area above and used the jetway. The prisoners were dressed casually as were the officers.

Hmm.. I remember waiting at a gate in PHL and saw someone in handcuffs. It was an early AM flight pre-9/11. It could have even been my plane, but after I boarded I don't remember seeing him/them.

This is a pretty accurate description of the process. I did several extradition transports back in my younger days before I retired. Generally, the prisoner is dressed with long sleeves and you probably won't notice the cuffs unless you are looking closely. They are always preboarded and always sit in the back in a window seat with an officer beside on the aisle and one behind if it is 2 across seating. Although I never flew where the side section was 3 across, I suspect the prisoner would then be in the middle, with the officers on either side. We usually used an ankle holster back then to minimize the chance of being seen to be armed.

All that was long before 9/11, so procedures are probably different now for clearing security. Back then, we just signed in at check-in and were escorted around the screening point.

JR

And here I thought this post was about flying in RJs... :D

A little bit different for the one time I noticed on an HA flight, ITO-HNL. Prisoner was in orange prison suit, heavily manacled. Uniformed and armed officers with him in the last row of coach.

I saw one getting on a NWA flight (probably at MSP/DTW) and mentioned it to the GA. She got huffy and said if I didn't feel safe I didn't have to take th flight. I told I felt fine, just hadn't seen a prisioner coming on before.

I have, twice that I know of. Once noticed because I thought it was strange the way two people way too well dressed were sitting on either side of somebody didn't fit in.

One got middle guy a water, when they handed it to him we saw the cuffs.

Another time a FA mentioned it in passing, they were sitting in the seat he liked to relax in.

My guess is that you saw some state or federal prison personnel escorting a post-sentencing inmate somewhere. Or it could have been federal marshals with a very high risk prisoner, although I think they normally use their own planes. Those situations are a bit different from the typical extradition involving local cops with a pretrial suspect. Just a guess.

JR

CNN made a big deal that he was flying into LAX on TG in J.

Indeed. The media will be all over that TG flight when it arrives at LAX. No secret there, from the passengers.

Karr's Return on Thai Air???
 

Kind of offtopic but still travel related. He's travelling back to the US on Thai Air? Can only imagine being on board that flight as a passenger.. imagine the security checking in and the tension onboard...

With this high profile "alleged" felon, you'd think the US or other division of the DOJ would have a private jet or military plane pick him up for return.

I'd love to hear if anyone's on board that flight for details

newportgambler there is another active thread re: this topic and I am going to merge the two:
Obscure 2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

The suspect in Thailand, John Marr, is flying back to America on Thai Airlines flight 794 non stop to LAX leaving in a hour (from 8:00 AM August 20th EDT). It is non stop and will take about 16 hours. I would hate to be him and/or the people who have to sit next to him on that long flight.

Less Common Now
 

It is less common now to see a prisoner transported on a commercial airline because the U.S. Marshalls service is using its own transportation network which includes planes, and state and local law enforcement agencies have developed their own transportation nets.

Part of my law enforcement career was spent as a deputy sheriff. My gripe was when returning back home without a prisoner a law enforcement officer had to check his/her sidearm in baggage, and they put a BIG RED TAG on the hard sided bag (it had to be hard sided). The tag announced to the world that the bag contained a firearm and all but announced to the world to STEAL THIS BAG.