Five visitors are allowed per visit here, where most Iowa prisons stop at three, so a whole family can come at once. Connect with your loved one in minutes.
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ICIW publishes more about its visiting room than any other prison in Iowa. Not just the hours, but the visitor cap and the number of stations the room actually holds. Five visitors per visit against three elsewhere, twenty stations per two-hour slot, and a video schedule that splits its hourly capacity between general population and the Minimum Live-Out unit. All of it is booked in the Ameelio Connect app and none of it costs anything, and the one route around the app is narrower here than at some Iowa prisons.
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Saturday | 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
| Sunday | 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
Reservations go through the Ameelio Connect app, and ICIW states that in capitals on its own page.
Five visitors per visit. Most Iowa prisons cap at three or publish no figure at all, so this is the most generous published allowance in the state, and it means a parent, a partner and three children can come together rather than taking turns.
Twenty visiting stations per two-hour time slot. No other Iowa prison publishes how many stations its room holds, and knowing it is useful: twenty stations across a Saturday running 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM is a finite number of families, which is why booking early in the week beats booking on a Friday night.
| Day | Hours | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM | 1 hour |
| Friday | 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM | 1 hour |
ICIW splits its hourly video capacity: five stations for general population and two for Minimum Live-Out, per one-hour time slot.
Iowa does not expand either term on its own pages. General population is the main prison. Minimum Live-Out is a separate unit that the department counts on its own line in the daily figures, and on September 9, 2026 it held nobody at all against a capacity of 120.
The practical consequence is that the app may show availability under one heading and not the other, and which one applies depends on where she is housed rather than on anything you choose. If slots look strangely scarce, that is worth a call.
Iowa charges nothing for video visits.
ICIW publishes a fallback and then narrows it.
Its page says that if you do not have access to use the Ameelio app and you are an approved visitor with the Department of Human Services or an approved attorney, you may contact the prison directly to manually schedule an in-person visit. The number is 515-725-5042, the window is Friday through Monday, and you ask for the visiting room officer.
For anybody outside those two categories, the route is different: special visits are initiated by the incarcerated individual, not by you. So a grandmother without a smartphone cannot ring and book. She needs the woman inside to start the request from her end.
That is worth saying plainly because one Iowa prison, Clarinda, does open phone booking to any family, and a family that has read about that arrangement may expect it here.
None of this is available until you are approved.
Form OP-MTV-04 F-1, the Iowa Department of Corrections Visitor Application, revised August 13, 2026. Every adult files their own, and children go on a parent or guardian’s form. Iowa does not accept it electronically. Print it, sign it and post it:
Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility
Attn: Central Records
1200 E. Washington St.
Mount Pleasant, IA 52641
One Central Visiting Authority serves all nine prisons, which is why an application to visit Mitchellville travels to the southeast corner of the state. The help line is 319-385-9511.
A decision takes up to 30 days, and Iowa notifies the incarcerated person rather than you.
Alongside the basics it asks for previous last names, your Social Security number, your spouse’s name, your address with county, and for each child under 18 their name, date of birth, Social Security number, sex and relationship.
Then the history: pending charges, all arrests including juvenile ones, every misdemeanour and felony conviction, deferred judgments, any past supervision with its ID number and discharge date, whether you have been involved in the illegal use of drugs, any work or volunteering for the department, and every visiting list you have ever been on.
Iowa’s instruction on the form: do not leave blanks or provide false information, because that will cause the application to be denied.
Policy allows 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 in advance. At a women’s prison this comes up constantly, because the children visiting are often brought by a grandparent, an aunt or a foster carer rather than by a parent.
Outside immediate family, a visitor may be on only one incarcerated person’s list. A child turning 18 has 30 days to file their own application.
Disqualified: anyone under correctional supervision, under indictment, 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 six months before reapplying unless you appeal, and an appeal must be postmarked within 45 days of the denial letter on form OP-MTV-04 F-3A.
Iowa’s statewide policy is unusually specific about what a baby may have with them, and with a five-visitor cap this room sees more children than most.
Allowed: two diapers, a clear non-glass baby bottle holding milk or formula only, an empty clear sippy cup, one baby blanket, one burp cloth, and one factory-sealed clear plastic container of baby food.
During your own search, you may keep a child with you or hand them to staff. Iowa’s policy is blunt about the third option: if a visitor refuses to leave the children with staff and does not want them present during the search, the visit is terminated. Where a child is searched, the parent or legal guardian is in the room along with two staff members.
Iowa also lists failing to supervise children, or leaving them unattended on institutional property, among the reasons a visit ends early.
Everyone aged 13 and over needs their own account.
Registration 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 and nothing inappropriate behind you.
Booking a slot is not the same as being cleared for one. Ameelio schedules and the department approves.
For video visits, everyone aged 16 and over shows valid identification at the start: a state driver’s licence, another state photo ID, a current passport, or a military ID for active service. You supply the device and connection. Iowa may record video visits and review them afterwards, and a visit ends at once if an unapproved person appears on camera or anybody records it.
Applied statewide, and printed on the back of the visitor application.
| 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 |
Ion scanners detect traces, and traces move from hands, bags and car seats. Wash your hands before you go in, and think about who else has been in the car.
Iowa’s statewide entrance rules are what apply here, and they cover shoes, miniskirts, shorts above the knee, muscle shirts, see-through clothing and halter tops. ICIW publishes no clothing list of its own, though one prison, Newton, does. Dress to the statewide rules and you are on safe ground.
These are not published for this facility either:
6 of 8 questions
Five per visit, which is the most generous published cap of any Iowa prison. Most publish three or publish nothing. The facility also states that it runs twenty visiting stations per two-hour time slot, so the room's overall capacity is public here in a way it is not elsewhere in Iowa.
VisitationSaturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, in two-hour slots booked through the Ameelio Connect app only. Video visits run Monday and Friday, 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, in one-hour slots with five stations for general population and two for the Minimum Live-Out unit. Iowa charges nothing for either.
VisitationOnly if you are an approved visitor with the Department of Human Services or an approved attorney. Those two groups can ring 515-725-5042 Friday through Monday and ask for the visiting room officer. Everybody else needs the incarcerated person to initiate a special visit, because ICIW states that special visits are initiated by the incarcerated individual.
VisitationIt is a separate unit at ICIW that Iowa counts on its own line, with a capacity of 120 that held nobody on September 9, 2026. Iowa does not expand the term on its pages. It matters because video visiting reserves two stations an hour for that unit and five for general population, so which schedule applies depends on where she is housed.
VisitationYes, with paperwork. Iowa allows minor children supervised by a parent or legal guardian, and a minor visiting with an approved adult who is not their parent needs a notarized letter of consent received by the Central Visiting Authority beforehand. Every adult in the group also needs their own approved application.
VisitationIowa's statewide list allows two diapers, a clear non-glass baby bottle with milk or formula only, an empty clear sippy cup, one baby blanket, one burp cloth, and one factory-sealed clear plastic container of baby food. Phones, cameras, tobacco and medications stay outside.
VisitationFile form OP-MTV-04 F-1, the Iowa DOC Visitor Application. Iowa does not accept it electronically, so print it, sign it and post it to Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, Attn: Central Records, 1200 E. Washington St., Mount Pleasant, IA 52641. One office handles all nine prisons, and a decision takes up to 30 days.
VisitationNothing specific to ICIW is published, but Iowa's statewide rules apply: all visitors wear shoes, and miniskirts, shorts above the knee, muscle shirts, see-through clothing and halter tops are refused, as is clothing with slogans or images that deprecate race, sex or cultural values. Coats, hats, gloves and sunglasses may have to be removed.
VisitationThe offender number the visitor application asks for first.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 9, 2026.