The JX40 Jailspeeder was a mobile detention wagon produced by the Tagge Company and employed by the Security Police of the Corporate Sector. It was designed for transporting up to forty-five prisoners at a time, but the vehicle could also serve as a mobile barricade to hinder the movement of rioters. The vehicle was equipped with grenade launchers, steam jets, and stun panels for use in its anti-riot capacity. The vehicles were in use by 3 BBY during the reign of the Galactic Empire.
The JX40 Jailspeeder was a large repulsorlift mobile detention wagon that measured fourteen meters in length and could travel up to ten meters off the ground at a maximum of one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour. The vehicle had an access ramp at its front which dropped down and was located below a series of viewports. It required a crew of two, but as a transport it could carry up to forty-five passengers, as well as a pair of technicians. The passenger spaces were made up of "prisoner stations" consisting of a set of stationary binders that would hold each of an individual's limbs in place, with the arms above the head.
The mobile detention wagon was not as heavily armored as some other Corporate Sector Authority Security Police vehicles, but had a coating of conductive polymer on its outermost layer which could be charged with stun energy. These stun panels had adjustable power settings, some of which stunned attackers, and others that caused physical harm. The repulsorwagon had room for five hundred kilograms of cargo and also came equipped with spotlights and steam jets. The vehicle was armed with three grenade launchers that each had a maximum range of three hundred meters; the launchers normally used fragmentation grenades as ammunition, but could also fire other types of grenades. One launcher was located on either side of the front end of the vehicle, while the third was a turret on top of the speeder.
The Jailspeeder was used by the Corporate Sector Authority Security Police, who maintained law and order in the Corporate Sector. It was primarily used for the transport of prisoners and generally would not arrive at a crime scene until after the situation there had been brought under control by the Security Police. The technicians on board would be required to position each detainee into their "prisoner station" where they could then be interrogated while being transported to a nearby Security Police station. The vehicle could also be used in riot control, acting as a barrier which could block protesters and push them back, holding any who resisted and were detained. The speeder's equipment could be used to control the crowd in such situations, with the steam jets being used to drive attackers away.
A Jailspeeder at Mondder Spaceport on Etti IV
The JX40 was designed and produced by the Tagge Company, which was a founding member and voting sponsor of the Corporate Sector Authority. It did not offer the vehicles for public sale, only supplying them to the Security Police. In 3 BBY, one of these speeders was summoned to an altercation at Mondder Spaceport on the planet Etti IV, where the Imperial Agent Jahan Cross and the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca had gotten into a brawl with several locals who believed the smugglers had cheated them in a game of sabacc. The fight was broken up by the Security Police and the locals were arrested and loaded into the JX40, although Cross and the smugglers avoided incarceration due to the agent's diplomatic immunity.
The JX40 Jailspeeder was first described in Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook, a sourcebook for West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game that was written by Michael Allen Horne and released in 1993. It later made its first appearance in the comic-book Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse 1, which was written by John Ostrander, illustrated by Stéphane Roux, and released on December 14, 2011.
- Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia