Tampa, Florida - 10 News has learned escorted prisoners fly into Tampa International Airport on commercial flights hundreds of times a year with the general public -- and the airlines don't have to tell the other passengers.
In August out on the Tampa International tarmac, Rick Joseph, a murder suspect on the run for seven years, walked off a commercial plane from New York along with other passengers. Joseph was then escorted through the airport as Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office cold case detectives brought him back to face justice.
Most of the passengers flying with him likely didn't even notice.
Larry McKinnon, spokesman for the sheriff's office, says, "They'll board the prisoner before all the passengers get on and they'll be restrained both by waist chains and cuffed in front and normally wearing a jacket to try to be very inconspicuous."
McKinnon adds, "We do it hundred of times a year - so it's not uncommon."
Debbie Asbury is a mother and grandmother from Gainesville. Friday she was waiting for her son to fly back from a deployment in Afghanistan, his second tour of duty.
Asbury, a retired deputy sheriff, says she's concerned about prisoners on planes. "I really feel like it's going to depend on the type of crime that they have. Of course, if they're murderers or serial rapists or child molesters I don't feel comfortable on a plane with them and I do think that passengers should be notified."
But Emily Nipps, spokeswoman with Tampa International, says the airlines don't have to notify passengers. "Each airline has its own policy and some of them are willing to work with you if for any reason you're not comfortable flying on an airplane. In a lot of cases they might allow you to make other arrangements."
Peter Cannon says as long as prisoners are restrained and flying with a law enforcement escort he's OK with it. He says he has bigger things to worry about. Cannon says, "MRSA, germs, people with a cold sitting next to me so I think there's a lot of other things going on that I'm more concerned about than a prisoner who's being transported."
Meanwhile, McKinnon says there's a lot of preparation that goes into transporting prisoners. Deputies who transport prisoners must first receive specialized training from the Federal Aviation Administration.
