Waiting for a first call from IMCC usually means waiting on one step inside: your number has to be added to his approved list before anything can ring. Create your phone account in minutes.
Create your phone account in minutes
Iowa charges a flat seven cents a minute to the lower 48, which is among the cheapest published prison phone rates in the country, and it prints an international rate card as well. None of that is what families at a reception centre are usually stuck on. The bottleneck here is the approved calling list. Every call is outgoing, and it only connects once the person inside has added your number and given your legal name. Until that happens there is nothing you can do from your end except wait for the phone to ring.
Iowa charges a flat seven cents per minute for all calls within the lower 48 states. Twenty minutes costs $1.40.
The department explains the figure rather than just publishing it. Its rate sheet says the costs of providing the service are reflected in rates “which are lower than for most other states”, and Iowa Code chapter 904.508A directs the revenue into a fund the Board of Corrections has assigned to legal services, religious accommodations, education and victim services.
At a reception centre this is where nearly every family gets stuck, so it is worth being exact.
Nobody can ring in. Every call is placed by the person inside, and it only connects if your number is on their approved calling list. Iowa requires them to supply the legal first and last name of whoever owns each number, and a number added without one can be restricted.
There is no form for you to file, no account you can open that speeds it up, and no number you can ring to be added. It happens from inside, and in the first days after a transfer from a county jail it competes with intake, medical screening and classification for their time.
What you can do is make sure the number they have for you is right, and that it is not one of the kinds below.
Forwarding is the quiet one and it costs families weeks. A landline that forwards to a mobile looks like a perfectly good number and will never take a call.
Iowa also bars calls to particular people: department staff, victims and victims’ households, minors where the offence involved a minor, anyone under a no-contact order, people currently under correctional supervision with limited family exceptions, and anyone released from prison in the last six months.
Most states say international calls cost more and leave it there. Iowa publishes a card, from the rate sheet effective May 1, 2026:
| Destination | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Lower 48 states | $0.07 |
| Alaska | $0.12 |
| Hawaii | $0.14 |
| Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico | $0.12 |
| Vietnam | $0.15 |
| Honduras, Philippines | $0.23 |
| Guatemala | $0.28 |
| El Salvador | $0.30 |
| United Kingdom | $0.66 |
The mechanism is Iowa’s seven cents plus the average amount the provider paid to route the call abroad, which is why a Vietnamese number costs eight cents more than a domestic one while a UK mobile costs far more than a UK landline.
IMCC handles no money at all beyond the intake deposit. Commissary money goes to Fort Dodge, and phone money goes to Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, at the opposite corner of the state.
Funding from outside means posting a money order with the printed Offender Telephone Service form, and 7 percent sales tax comes off the top. Iowa’s worked example: a $10 family deposit becomes a $9.35 credit. When the person inside transfers his own money across instead, 7 percent is added, so $10 costs him $10.70.
The minimum is $1, the transfer cannot be reversed, and unused phone money is credited back on release.
Because most men leave IMCC inside 60 days, it is worth knowing that the phone account is not tied to this prison either. It is held centrally and follows him.
Blocking is easy. Contact the institution and ask, or take the option offered when a call comes through.
Unblocking is deliberately hard. Iowa requires a written request to the Iowa State Penitentiary Business Office, and it must come from the owner of the telephone number. Not from the person inside, not over the phone, and not through IMCC.
This matters more than it sounds at a reception centre, because a number blocked years ago, or blocked by whoever held it before you, will still be blocked when the first call is attempted, and sorting it out takes a letter to Fort Madison rather than a conversation in Coralville.
An incoming call from an attorney needs five days advance notice, runs Monday to Friday between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM, and is scheduled in 25-minute intervals in a private phone room. Iowa’s policy states these calls are not monitored.
Outgoing calls to attorney numbers registered with the Iowa Supreme Court are likewise not monitored or recorded.
At a reception centre this is worth flagging, because a man arriving from county jail often has an active appeal or a sentencing matter still moving, and the lawyer’s route in is different from the family’s.
Iowa refuses refunds and states it directly: the department does not issue refunds for any dropped, lost or disconnected calls placed to cellular devices, and the same applies to VoIP and digital landline services.
You pay for the minutes regardless. A genuine copper landline is the only thing treated differently.
Iowa runs offender email through CorrLinks at $0.25 per message, which is cheaper than four minutes of talking. Register at corrlinks.com.
The person inside funds his side the same way as phone credit, with 7 percent added. Iowa’s family-facing page caps a message at 13,000 characters or 100 lines, roughly two pages, while two of the department’s own policies say 14,000. The contradiction is Iowa’s and it remains unresolved.
Iowa is also explicit that this is not private correspondence: by its nature O-mail is not confidential, and all incoming and outgoing messages may be inspected and read.
6 of 8 questions
Almost always because your number is not on his approved calling list. Nobody can ring in to an Iowa prison, and an outgoing call only connects once the person inside has added the number and supplied the legal first and last name of whoever owns it. There is no form you can file to speed that up from outside.
Phone CallsSeven cents a minute anywhere in the lower 48 states, so a twenty-minute call is $1.40. Alaska is 12 cents, Hawaii 14, and Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico 12. Iowa publishes an international card as well, running from 15 cents for Vietnam to 66 cents for the United Kingdom.
Phone CallsNo. Every call in Iowa's system is placed by the person inside and no family member can call in. The facility number, 319-626-2391, reaches staff for questions about visits, property and status, not the person you are trying to reach.
Phone CallsNo. Iowa blocks call forwarding outright, along with toll-free numbers on 800, 888, 877, 866, 855 and 844, 900 numbers, credit card calls and three-way calls. A forwarding landline looks like a working number and will never take a call, so give a number that rings where it is.
Phone CallsNot at IMCC and not at Fort Dodge. Phone credit is administered by Iowa State Penitentiary, PO Box 316, Fort Madison, IA 52627-0316, funded by money order with the printed Offender Telephone Service form. A family deposit has 7 percent sales tax deducted, so Iowa's own example is that $10 becomes a $9.35 credit.
Phone CallsYes. Iowa holds phone funds centrally through Iowa State Penitentiary rather than at the prison he is standing in, so a transfer out of IMCC does not strand the balance. Unused phone money is credited back on release.
Phone CallsIn writing, and only from you. Iowa requires a written request to the Iowa State Penitentiary Business Office from the owner of the telephone number. The person inside cannot do it, it cannot be done by phone, and it does not go through IMCC.
Phone CallsYes. Iowa runs offender email through CorrLinks at 25 cents a message, against seven cents a minute for talking. Register at corrlinks.com. Iowa's family page caps a message at 13,000 characters or 100 lines while its own policies say 14,000, and the department states plainly that O-mail is not confidential and may be read.
Phone CallsThe offender number every account here runs on.
View ArticleThursday video, and the reception rule that holds your application.
View ArticleIMCC banks the intake cash, then everything goes to Fort Dodge.
View ArticleCode 1108, and the book rule that applies only here.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
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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.