Agree (bolding mine). My cousin's husband runs a private prisoner transport service, and does a lot of the above. A lot of times it's via van, but also does air transport.

Cheers.

Sorry for being picky. I worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. JPATS, or the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System is ran by the US Marshals Service. This is commonly known as "Con-Air". And, FYI, it is nothing like the movie. Have a nice day.

I saw this for the first time on a flight back in September, FAI-SCC-BRW. One guard and one prisoner in a black jumpsuit. Boarded first, took the last row, prisoner in the window, guard in the aisle. They stayed onboard during the stop in Prudhoe Bay. In Barrow, they exited first and walked to a waiting SUV/transport on the tarmac.

Just about the only thing worse than the last row in coach is prison at the top of the world!

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to post on what happened to be back in 2003.

I was in the States on a holiday visa but like a lot of people do worked there and stayed on after I was meant to leave. I was only 19 and shouldn't have done it and learned my lesson. Anyway I got into some trouble, got arrested and got 6 months in county jail. When I'd served the sentence I was to get deported and spent another few weeks in an immigration detention centre in New York while it was being sorted out.

I ended up getting a flight back to New York to the detention centre. On the morning it happened they let me change out of the horrible orange jail jumpsuit that I had to wear for the past 6 months and I could wear normal clothes which was good and got taken to the airport. At the airport they took me to a holding area and took off the leg chains and I was just handcuffed. There was only one guard and he was very decent to me and chatted with me and I think he felt sorry for me. We were there a few hours before the flight and he even let me have a cigarette (first one in 6 months) before we went to the gate area and waited. I could see loads of people looking over at me and felt really embarassed - suppose it is unusual to see somebody sitting down handcuffed at the airport but there was nothing I could do about it but I was happy enough just to be out of jail.

Like somebody said we had seats in the second last row and he did give me his jacket to cover the cuffs. I was put by the window, he sat beside me and the other seat was free. Because I was nearly at the back not that many people saw me only really ifthey were going to the toilets. Before we got on the plane he brought me to the toilets at the airport. He got me some orange juice to drink on the plane and I drank that but it was tricky as it was a bit bumpy and I still had the cuffs on. We were last to get off and he brought me down to the immigration people at the airport and left me and I spent a while there before being brought to the detention centre.

I thought the same thing was going to happen when I was going back to London but they took my handcuffs off just before getting on the plane and I was just on my own. It felt good after nearly being 7 months in jail to be just able to do my own thing and thinking about getting back home and I had a few beers on the flight which were the best I ever had.

That was the worst time of my life going through that but like I said I learnt my lesson and haven't been in any trouble since. Because of getting deported I can't go back to USA and that's the main regret I had. I was treated OK though and it's a story some day for my kids.

I've stayed at The Top of the World Motel, the only hotel in BRW, and the local lockup probably isn't much worse.

A couple years ago I was checking in for a flight (IND-PHL on US Airways) when at the other end of the counter I saw some sort of official flash a badge to the counter agent and have a discussion while an orange jump-suited man stood around behind him. After I got to my gate, I sat and watched as a flight to PHX boarded, pulled away, then returned to the gate and let all the passengers off for a few minutes. My memory is hazy as to what was stated by the gate agent, but I believe a mechanical problem was implied. After a brief wait, the passengers reboarded and the flight was off and away. It was the last flight to PHX for the day, and I figured the plane returned and passengers removed so that the prisoner could be boarded via the van method mentioned before, but I have no way to know for sure. I figured that would be the preferred method over bringing the plane back to the gate and walking the prisoner to the back past all of the other passengers.

In Scotland, there are magistrates courts on some islands which don't have prisons. It was not uncommon to see prisoners going between INV and SYY. Each prisoner had one officer and if there were more two prisoners, there would be a third officer to supervise. The prisoners wore handcuffs and sat in the window seats on the right hand side, the officers in the aisle seat and extraneous officers on the left hand rear window. The prisoners came through the main terminals but bypassed security. They boarded first and disembarked last, although if the plane was EDI-INV-SYY (or the reverse) then the prisoners would get on or off at INV in view of those doing the full journey. Some of the prisoners seemed quite contemplative and some seemed to enjoy the journey. The cabin crew always made a point of thanking both the officers and the prisoners and offering drinks to the prisoners - though they always chose non-alcoholic ones.

Welcome to FT and thanks for sharing your story.

Like MrH said I remember the cabin crew being nice when they came around and smiling at me eventhough they knew that I was a prisoner. You can imagine what it was like being a 19 and after having spent 6 months in jail barely seeing any women!

I remember wondering what would happen if anything went wrong when they were doing the safety thing about putting on oxygen masks, getting to the door quickly, getting down a slide. Don't have a clue how somebody was meant to manage that with handcuffs on but maybe they would take them off?

I have to say everytime I fly now I think back on that flight which I'm sure is the strangest flight I'll ever have.

See it all the time in AK on AS flights.