A look at how federal inmates are transported after plane crashes with prisoner on board

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A plane crashed with six people on board in Geauga County Wednesday morning.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers said the passengers included one pilot, four officers with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and one federal inmate.

Nobody was injured.

This inmate was just one of hundreds of federal prisoners transferred every day.

We looked into how the federal government manages their transport.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is responsible for nearly 160,000 federal inmates.

They’re transported often through a special network of buses and planes.

Federal prisoners often go back and forth from prisons to detention centers and jails.

We found they’re checked by federal officers before they board the plane and before they get into a vehicle after they land.

“JPATS” is the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System under the U.S. Marshals Service.

It deals with the handling of prisoners in federal custody.

We’ve learned it’s the largest transporter of prisoners in the country, moving 800 prisoners a day.

And they usually move more than 260,000 prisoners a year.

JPATS uses its own airplanes.

The agency said they have higher security than commercial planes.

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