The Imperial transports featured a wedge-shaped fuselage and a forward boarding ramp. It was powered by engines and was armed with twin paired laser cannons. Its interior could be modified to hold at least 36 standing stormtroopers or at least 20 seated prisoners.
By 9 BBY, some transports were stationed at the Galactic Empire's Fortress Inquisitorius on Nur. During the siege of Jabiim, the Imperials deployed two such transports to besiege an anti-Imperial cell known as the Hidden Path.
An imperial transport in prison barge configuration; the prisoners have their hands shackled in their seats
The modified Imperial Prison Transport was used in 5 BBY to ferry prisoners from the Niamos courthouse to the prison where they would serve their sentence. They had caged windows and specialized seats which could be magnetized to have the prisoners' shackles attached on them, and lacked the twin laser cannons on the front. One such transport was used to carry Cassian Jeron Andor to the Imperial Prison Complex on Narkina 5 following his arrest on Niamos.
One was stationed aboard the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Tarkin's Will, and was used by rebel Pathfinder Sergeant Kes Dameron and his wife, the rebel pilot Shara Bey, to escape the Tarkin's Will and return to the rebel flagship Home One during the Battle of Panisia. In approximately 9 ABY, they were used by Moff Gideon's Imperial remnant. Two such transports participated in a battle on Tython to retrieve Grogu from Din Djarin. After a retreat was ordered, both ships took off in an attempt to flee. However, a missile launched from Boba Fett's Z-6 jetpack caused one to crash into the other, destroying both.
The transports first appeared in the 2020 episode "Chapter 14: The Tragedy" of the live-action TV series The Mandalorian.
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