Joan Lunden Behind Closed Doors: Con Air

with us on Conair in the u.s. more than a million people live behind bars and every year more than 150,000 of them take flight on an exclusive airline where all the passengers are criminals and all the flight attendants are u.s. marshals please join us as we go behind closed doors of the maximum security cell block in the sky better known as Conair it's officially known as Jay Pat's the Justice prisoner and alien transportation system murderers rapists and drug dealers are some of the inmates on the passenger list and it's up to the US Marshal Service to move them safely and securely this is a very dangerous job Jay Pat's really handles the worst of the worst we usually think of prisoners as being locked up in one place and staying that way but they're not on any given day more than 1,000 prisoners are on the move being transported around the country for court dates prison transfers and medical treatment in order to do this story there were certain ground rules we can't show the prisoners faces or talk with them on camera even behind prison walls violence is a constant threat but authorities know they are most vulnerable when the inmates are in transit you don't want them at a side side the the cellblock any longer than you have two years in law enforcement have taught many who transfer prisoners to expect the worst from these hardened criminals seems like life doesn't mean anything to them they're going to take whatever chances and they really don't care about the consequences if you let your guard down it may be your loss they in law enforcement we try to train people to guard against that I went behind closed doors of the US Marshal Service to discover how they transport some of the world's most dangerous criminals I also wanted to find out firsthand what it's like to fly on Con Air not as a guest but as a prisoner something no other journalist has ever done Kent poq Eric is in charge of J Pat's and has worked in the Marshal Service for 30 years he described the kind of inmates that would be on my flight there's gang members bank robbers narcotic violators so we have just about everybody part of the Department of Justice the US Marshal Service has been moving prisoners for more than 200 years and that experience has translated into an impressive safety record we moved over 1.5 million prisoners over the last 17 years using US Marshal Jay Pat's aircraft and this is without a major incident we don't accomplish that by being lucky they do it with precision planning and airtight security which starts in their Oklahoma City flight operations center like a commercial airline they have their own fleet of jets including 727s dc9 and two md-80s but they also have smaller planes used for special missions private jets like this one normally cater to CEOs and celebrities but here in Oklahoma City they are reserved for the country's most notorious and dangerous criminals extreme measures are taken to ensure their safety and ours mob boss John Gotti Timothy McVeigh Unabomber Ted Kaczynski an accused 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui have all been on board these multimillion-dollar Jets when you deal with terrorists you're dealing with with individuals have very unpredictable behavior that involve themselves in extremely violent crimes that have a great network on the outside that we need to consider in terms of trying to move them both in the air and on the ground nothing is left a chance with these high-risk inmates to me it looked like something straight out of a movie the prisoners faces are covered so they can't bite or spit and special mesh gloves cover their handcuffs to restrict their movement on board there is at least one security officer for each prisoner it's effective but costly when we moved Timothy McVeigh from Oklahoma City to Denver it cost approximately a little over $11,000 for that movement while special prisoners are transported on small planes the majority of inmates fly on large jets with scheduled routes to more than 40 cities larger stops like Atlanta and Chicago are scheduled every week smaller ones like Albuquerque and Tampa every two weeks this is the schedule for tomorrow and we also have a death row inmate scheduled on there like a busy travel agency this office booked more than a thousand seats a day but these reservations come with an extensive background check of every inmate on board we look at the criminal history the security risks the health issues the safety issues by the time that person scheduled we have a pretty good idea of what we're dealing with on these flights information is on a need-to-know basis and the inmates don't need to know we don't typically tell them when they're going to be moved and where they're going to be moved in a lot of senses it's a big guessing game and we purposely make it a guessing game if the prisoners don't know the itinerary they can't organize an ambush or orchestrate and escape although few inmates ever try they still have to assume every prisoner is an escape risk they treat all of them as if they are maximum security regardless of the crime I want to stress you know even though we know the person who's the serial killer the murderer of the killer you know don't drop your guard on this person who's doing two years for credit card fraud or one year for tax evasion this person may not think that they can do that one year and they're going to do everything in our power to escape I'd soon have a chance to experience Conair for myself on mortu flight originating in Kansas City you're gonna be getting on what I consider to be one of the safest aircraft and the safest operations that will be in the air to this afternoon I know that last night the airplane was under 24-hour surveillance no one put anything on the airplane I know this morning that it was searched I know the backgrounds of everybody that we're moving this afternoon I know where they're seated I know why they're being moved there's actually nothing about that flight that I don't know about I'll be accompanied on my flight by deputy marshal Larry yo he's been transporting prisoners since 1987 sometimes we have to wrestle with some of them we have to fight them we have some of them like to spit on us try to bite us does it take just one to try to attack to create chaos yes ma'am sometimes you'll have one he'll set off a whole group of people party number one none of them get to the cockpit they're not going to take over plane they are fully restrained the problem arises and we're going to take care of it right down when we come back I'll join the prisoners aboard Conair flight one one three everyday Conair or j pats as its officially known moves more than a thousand prisoners today I'll be traveling with them my journey begins in a holding cell in downtown Kansas City dressed in jailhouse orange I will go through the same security process as a real inmate with one key difference I will be allowed to ask the officers questions along the way but I can't talk with the prisoners on camera or show their faces the moment I stepped outside of the cell I was put in restraints by detention officers serve on Gallow handcuffs were just the beginning what's this thing is to limit your mobility to the lid on these are limit you from running oh yeah the handcuffs waist chain and leg irons really restricted my movement I certainly couldn't run in fact I had trouble even walking this is the first time they've allowed a journalist to go behind closed doors aborted J Pat's flight to experience Conair through the eyes of a prisoner like the inmates I was kept shackled at all times marshals transported me by car but they also used bands or buses depending on the number of prisoners that's what we call it hooking and hauling so we hook them up in their restraints and we haul them over to wherever the jPAS flight is coming in to marshal Brad English was armed and at the wheel officer gala was unarmed sitting next to me this our most vulnerable moment so we have to be aware of every vehicle we pass been looking at we're looking for at the faces might be something that we don't see first of all we come to a stop why did you come to us commercial ever since I was little I remember once and start skin huntin all the every capsule imaginable and just wanting to catch the background that's what we do that's what we want to do and try to make the world in our community a little better for everyone else while I was on my way to the Kansas City Airport buses carrying prisoners were already in place waiting for the unmarked Jay Pat 727 the planes land at the same airports we use for commercial flights but in areas far away from the public we go to the most remote and most secure area also and we want to make sure that there's not a place for snipers or a place for an ambush or if somebody were to have a van with people in the band who could rush the airplane like clockwork marshals armed with shotguns surrounded the jet the buses pulled up in the transfer began their goal to get nearly 100 prisoners off the plane put 100 more on and get off the ground as quickly as possible it's a well choreographed routine that happens four to five times every day as my car pulled onto the tarmac I couldn't help feeling a little frightened the prisoners on my flight are in for everything from murder to bank robbery regardless of their crime each and every one is considered dangerous and they're treated that way the prisoners are searched when they come out of the institution and then they're searched again before they get on the airplane then when they get to that destination they're searched again before they get into the next destination they may be searched three or four times within one hour they're looking for improvised weapons I watched as officers check the prisoners clothes hair and even their mouth then it was my turn clearly these inmates are used to the endless searches but for me it was disconcerting ordinary airport security is strict but it can't compare to this next it was time to board the plane I was put on last we get left from work it was a long walk I couldn't make out everything the prisoners were yelling but I understood enough to feel uneasy and a little intimidated to make matters worse the restraints made everything difficult simply fastening my seatbelt was a challenge looking around the interior look deceptively ordinary there were no bars on the windows or jail cells on the plane but as I expected there were a few big differences from commercial flights there were no movies no magazines no blankets or pillows and no flight attendants and there was no preflight announcement as just as one one three took off for Oklahoma City I'd been on hundreds of flights but none like this like all female prisoners I was seated away from the men in the front of the plane even with all the marshals on board officer Brooks Howard feared for my safety I've got some guys on here that are multiple murderers and things of that nature and we have someone that has nothing to lose or is incarcerated or Citiz to death which I've transported many times it'd be just kind of a feather in their hat you walk by and then get a hold of you and assault you and we took the strictest precautions today so that would not happen we've never had anybody escape as I understand it no ma'am we've never had anybody escape from Marsh sir sir live throughout the flight I noticed that the officers never take their eyes off the prisoners they're constantly scanning the aisles tray tables and sharp objects have also been removed from the plane you really have to be careful because they can make a weapon out in just about any yes matter of fact that item I don't know if I want to go into the things that they've taken off the plane but they fashioned footlong knives off things in the airplane it's pretty with their teeth you know biting it down making making things Bend and folds it to form knives and shanks and things of that nature so yes you have to be aware what they're doing at all times prisoners remain in handcuffs and leg irons throughout the flight belt buckle yes I do inmates get a bag lunch from the Bureau of Prisons but eating it like this isn't easy even taking a drink is almost impossible absolutely everything is done in full restraints at certain times the convicts are able to use the the laboratories or the aircraft it's under a very controlled environment where it's one at a time basically we do not take the restraints off when they go to the bathroom and there's no privacy because the door stays open on these planes the pilots work for the US Marshal Service must have prior military or commercial airline experience as ironic as it seems they never worry about locking the cockpit door we do not secure our doors because we know that all the hijackers and potential hijackers are sitting in rows 17 being we know already where the hijackers and the chairs are we know where they're setting as a woman I felt especially uncomfortable with a Plane full of male inmates officer Cheryl Stevens faces this every day I mean you've got guys on this plane who have been in prison haven't been around women and Nicko you walking up and down the aisle you must take a lot I ignore a lot but that's a lie as part of the game it is there's a lot to have games and we just have to ignore it because you have to command the respect right after an hour we landed in Oklahoma City the Bureau of Prisons has a Federal Detention Center adjacent to the airport a jet way leads inmates directly into the maximum-security facility I was relieved to be back on the ground but I was still a little anxious as the inmates filed past well years ago they framed me Johnny pretty soon these prisoners would once again be back behind bars my flight had come to an end but tomorrow the marshals will transport yet another group of inmates to another city it is a scary thing I'm not going to tell you it's not a scary thing and I would I can't imagine it not being scary for the marshals that are on the plane for the pilots that fly the plane but this is the most secure and certainly the most cost-effective way to move all these prisoners around the country which they have to do Conair purposely keeps a low profile so most travelers will never notice an unmarked jPAS jet on an airport runway but five days a week 52 weeks a year u.s. marshals will continue to transport plane loads of inmates safely and securely across the country what carries the day is being able to finish the day and still be in in one piece so to speak and be able to go home to our families Conair be closed doors

Channel: JoanLunden

Views: 63,069

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Id: tPvFaFsRr4I

Length: 18min 7sec (1087 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2016