Visiting Fort Dodge Correctional Facility: Two Saturday Schedules

The Schedule, and the Split That Matters

Fort Dodge is alone among Iowa’s nine prisons in publishing a separate protective custody schedule.

Day	Who	Hours
Saturday	Protective custody	8:00 AM to 6:50 PM
Saturday	General public	10:00 AM to 6:50 PM
Sunday	General public	8:00 AM to 6:50 PM
Monday	Video	8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday	Video	8:00 AM to 8:00 PM

The difference is two hours on one day, and it only affects Saturday. Sunday runs one schedule for everyone.

If you do not know whether your person is in protective custody, ask them, or ask the prison on 515-574-4700. Iowa’s offender search does not publish housing status, so this is not something you can look up.

Those video windows are the longest published by any Iowa prison, twelve hours on each of two days. Fort Dodge publishes no block length for either kind of visit, where several other Iowa prisons state two-hour in-person blocks and fifty-minute video ones.

Getting Approved, Which Comes First

You cannot book anything until you are on the approved list, and Iowa makes that deliberately slow.

The form is OP-MTV-04 F-1, the Iowa Department of Corrections Visitor Application, revised August 13, 2026. Every adult files their own. Children are listed on a parent or guardian’s application instead of filing separately.

Iowa does not accept it electronically. It has to be printed, signed and posted:

Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility
Attn: Central Records
1200 E. Washington St.
Mount Pleasant, IA 52641

One Central Visiting Authority handles all nine prisons, so an application to visit Fort Dodge travels across the state to Mount Pleasant. The help line is 319-385-9511, and appeals go to the same address.

A decision takes up to 30 days, and Iowa notifies the incarcerated person rather than you. The form says so, and asks that you do not attempt to visit until they have told you the application cleared.

What Goes on the Form

It is long. Expect to spend an evening on it and to look things up.

Beyond the basics it asks for previous last names, your Social Security number, your spouse’s name, your address with county, and for each of your children under 18 their name, date of birth, Social Security number, sex and relationship.

The history section wants pending charges, every arrest including juvenile, all misdemeanour and felony convictions, all deferred judgments, any past supervision with its ID number and discharge date, whether you have been involved in the illegal use of drugs, any employment or volunteering with the department, and every visiting list you have ever been on, approved or not.

Iowa’s own instruction: do not leave blanks or provide false information, because doing so will cause the application to be denied.

Who Gets On the List

Iowa’s policy permits immediate family, six other individuals or groups who are friends or extended family, and minor children supervised by a parent or legal guardian.

A minor visiting with an approved adult who is not their parent needs a notarized letter of consent, received by the Central Visiting Authority before the visit.

Except for immediate family, a visitor may be on only one incarcerated person’s list. When a child turns 18 they have 30 days to file their own application or come off the list.

Disqualified outright: anyone under correctional supervision, indictment, or involved in escape or contraband, anyone who falsified an application, and victims and their households. A convicted felon who is not immediate family generally needs three years of successful community adjustment.

A denial means waiting six months to reapply, unless you appeal, and an appeal must be postmarked within 45 days of the denial letter on form OP-MTV-04 F-3A.

Booking Through Ameelio

Every visit here is scheduled in Ameelio Connect, and the facility page says reservations are in the app only. Fort Dodge publishes no phone fallback for manual scheduling, which several other Iowa prisons do.

Everyone 13 and over needs their own Ameelio account. Setting one up takes three photographs: the front of your ID, the back of it, and you holding the ID with its photo facing the camera, wearing a shirt with sleeves, nothing inappropriate in shot.

Ameelio schedules, the department approves. Booking a slot is not the same as having it confirmed.

For a video visit, everyone 16 and over shows valid identification at the start, and Iowa accepts a state driver’s licence, another state photo ID, a current passport, or a military ID for someone on active service. You provide the device and the connection. The department may record video visits and review them afterwards, and a visit ends immediately if an unapproved person appears on screen or anyone records it.

The Ion Scan Penalties

Printed on the back of the visitor application, and worth knowing before you arrive.

Occurrence	Consequence
First	Next two visiting days, and future visits may be non-contact
Second	Seven visiting days
Third	Fifteen visiting days
Fourth	Thirty visiting days, plus 180 days non-contact
Refusing the scan	Fifteen calendar days from the refusal

After a fourth positive, Iowa states visiting may be permanently restricted to non-contact. Ion scanners pick up traces, and traces move from hands and bags and car seats, so wash your hands before you go in.

What Fort Dodge Leaves Unpublished

• A visitor cap. Iowa’s statewide policy caps a group at three adults plus children by seating, but this prison publishes no figure of its own.
• Block length, for in-person or video visits.
• A dress code specific to Fort Dodge.
• Locker arrangements at the entrance.
• A late arrival policy.
• Whether general population visits are contact or through glass.

Before You Drive to Webster County, Ask

1. Is my person in protective custody, and which Saturday start time applies?
2. How many visitors can come at once?
3. How long is a visit here?
4. What should I not wear?
5. Where do I leave my phone and keys?
6. How late can I arrive before I lose the slot?