The Iowa Department of Corrections publishes its population in the Offender Search, and opens with the law behind it: offender records are public information under Section 904.601(1) of the Iowa Code. The form takes a first, middle and last name, an offender number, sex, location, offense and county of commitment, and the department says the information is updated weekly but may change quickly, that it makes no warranty of accuracy, and that because of data conversion issues the latest or most complete information may not always be available. A daily statistics page sits beside the search.
The search covers people under the department's jurisdiction, in its nine institutions and its eight community based corrections districts. Someone held in a county jail before trial or on a county sentence is the sheriff's record, found through the Iowa county pages.
- Search: the Iowa Offender Search, updated weekly; the Inmate and Family Services hub links everything that follows.
- Calls: no incoming calls; an offender adds a number to the approved calling list, and calls to the lower 48 states cost $0.07 under the rates effective May 1, 2026, with Alaska, Hawaii and international calls varying; money for calls comes from the commissary account or a money order with the Offender Telephone Service form.
- Money: every mailed deposit, cashier's check or money order only, goes to IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account, 1550 L Street, Suite B, Fort Dodge, IA 50501, with the offender's name and number and the sender's name and address; no institution accepts drop offs; electronic deposits through Access Corrections, JPay or Western Union.
- Visits: free, in person or by video, for visitors approved on a printed and signed application mailed to Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, Attn: Central Records, 1200 E. Washington St., Mount Pleasant, IA 52641, then scheduled on the Ameelio app; Centralized Visiting answers at (319) 385-9511.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Iowa's own systems: the Iowa Department of Corrections Offender Search, the department's Inmate and Family Services page, the department's How Do I Send Money to an Offender page, the department's How Do I Visit an Offender page, the department's How Do I Talk to an Offender on the Phone page, the department's Visiting Entrance Procedures page, the department's home page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The search and the facilities
A search by name or offender number, narrowed by sex, location, offense or county of commitment, returns the department's record of an offender, and the department's disclaimer governs how to read it: public by statute, believed accurate, updated weekly, subject to quick change and to gaps from the conversion of older data. The department's institutions are the Anamosa State Penitentiary, the Clarinda Correctional Facility, the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, the Iowa State Penitentiary, the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, the Newton Correctional Facility and the North Central Correctional Facility, and community supervision runs through eight judicial districts.
The home page carries the department's news, among it Anamosa reinstating all in person visitation on May 8, 2026 after a suspension on April 9, and Mount Pleasant reinstating visitation at its main building on May 2, 2026 after a suspension on March 26, each after what the department called a comprehensive review.
Calling an offender
The department provides telephone service for inmates and their families and allows no incoming calls; an offender must add a number to the approved calling list before calling it, under the Access to Telephones policy. The telephone page prices a call to the lower 48 states at $0.07 under the rate sheet effective May 1, 2026, with Alaska, Hawaii and international calls varying, and says the rates reflect the cost of the service and are lower than in most other states.
Iowa Code chapter 904.508A lets the department keep an inmate telephone fund, which the Board of Corrections directs to legal services, religious accommodations, education and victim services. Offenders move money to the phone system from their commissary accounts, and a family member may mail a money order with the printed Offender Telephone Service form to add money directly to a phone account; Ameelio also carries messages for approved contacts.
Money: one address and three services
Offender banking is centralized. All incoming money for spending and commissary accounts is received at one place, the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, and the money page gives the only mailing address, IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account, 1550 L Street, Suite B, Fort Dodge, IA 50501, for cashier's checks and money orders payable to IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account that carry the offender's name and number and the sender's name and complete address, legibly; a deposit that breaks the rules is mailed back, and no institution accepts a drop off any longer.
Restitution, court filing fees and child support are entered and maintained by the Iowa State Penitentiary. Electronically, Access Corrections takes Visa and MasterCard deposits online from $3.49, from a CorrLinks account at the same rate, by phone at 1 (866) 345-1884 from $4.49, in cash at CashPayToday locations such as Dollar General, Family Dollar and Kum and Go for a flat $6.95 or at ACE Cash Express for $5.95, with a $900.00 cash maximum and funds usually available within 24 hours.
JPay takes Visa and MasterCard online for $3.95 to $10.95 by amount, by phone at 1-800-574-5729 for $4.95 to $11.95, and cash at any MoneyGram agent, Walmart, CVS, 7-Eleven and Albertsons among them, for $8.95 and up to $5,000.00 a transaction, with money sent before 11:45 AM generally available the next day. Western Union takes cash or debit at its agents, found at 1-800-325-6000, through the Send2Corrections app and site, or by phone at 1-800-634-3422, option 2, with the offender's commissary number and facility.
Visiting: the application and the app
In person and video visits are free for approved friends and family, and every one is scheduled through the Ameelio app, with each prison's in person and video days and times on its facility page. Approval comes first: every adult visitor submits their own visitor application, minors are listed on a parent's or legal guardian's application, and electronic applications are not accepted, so the form is printed, signed and mailed to Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, Attn: Central Records, 1200 E.
Washington St., Mount Pleasant, IA 52641, with the Visiting Policy and Centralized Visiting at (319) 385-9511 for questions. A denial is appealed in writing to the Central Visiting Authority at the same facility, a victim who wishes to visit goes through Victim Services, and Ameelio's support handles the app but never approves or denies a visit. At the door, every visitor is subject to search, by pat down, metal detector, ion scanner or other device, and refusal means no entry; the entrance rules require shoes, bar miniskirts, shorts above the knee, muscle shirts, see through clothing, halter tops and clothing with slogans that deprecate race, sex or cultural values, and may require coats, hats, gloves and sunglasses to come off unless a prescription verifies the sunglasses.
Packages, books, fees and victims
The family services hub covers care packages of food and hygiene items through approved vendors, the guidelines for mailing books, supervision fees and restitution paid online through Pay Fees, attorney contact with incarcerated clients, and the process for restoring voting rights after incarceration. Its victim services section carries Victim DOC Registration and VINE, the confidential victim input statement, safety planning, victim offender dialogue and restitution and compensation.
Reading an Iowa result
An Offender Search result is the department's weekly snapshot of a person under its jurisdiction, published because Iowa law makes it public, with the department's own notice that it may be behind the facts. The offender number on it is what the Fort Dodge deposit, the phone account form and the visitor application need, and the location tells which facility page holds the visiting days that Ameelio will offer.
Questions about finding an inmate in Iowa
Related Iowa records
The Offender Search is one of the Iowa records this site covers: the Iowa arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the court records guide covers Iowa Courts Online, the sex offender registry guide covers the Department of Public Safety registry, and the Iowa county pages list each sheriff and jail.