IMCC banks the cash a man arrives with, which is the only money it handles, and Iowa warns that a brand new account can take a week to appear in the banking system. Send photos and letters too.
Send photos and letters too
IMCC has one money job and it happens before you are involved. When a man arrives from a county jail, the cash he came with is deposited here, and Iowa’s own funds policy names this facility as the place that does it for every male commitment in the state. After that, IMCC handles none of it. Deposits from outside go to a single lockbox at Fort Dodge, phone credit goes to a third prison at Fort Madison, and a new account can take about a week to exist in the banking system at all.
Iowa’s funds policy, AD-FM-11, states that intake money is deposited by IMCC for men and by the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women for women.
That is the whole of this facility’s role in the money system, and it explains something families often ask about. The department tells people preparing for admission that a new arrival may bring a bible, an address book, a small amount of photos, and any cash that they have. Anything else has to be collected by family or discarded at the county jail before the transfer.
So the cash in his property at the county jail is not lost. It comes with him and IMCC banks it.
Iowa centralised offender banking. Deposits for all nine prisons are received and handled at Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, and the department states that incoming money will not be accepted at or by any other location.
IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account
1550 L Street, Suite B
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
Fort Dodge is a prison roughly three hours northwest of Coralville, and that distance is irrelevant to you. It is a postal address, not a place to visit.
Money orders are no longer accepted at any institution. Bringing one to a Saturday visit at IMCC does nothing.
The deposit has to be a cashier’s check or money order. Nothing else goes by post.
Make it payable to: IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account.
Write all four of these on it:
Iowa’s funds policy adds one rule that catches people out constantly: money orders and cashier’s checks may not be sent with any other correspondence. A money order tucked inside a letter is returned, and so is anything that breaks the other instructions. Deposits above $1,000 are copied to institutional security staff for approval before they post.
This is the fact that matters most at a reception centre, and Iowa states it plainly on its page for families preparing for admission: if you are sending funds electronically, expect the process for the new account in the banking system to take one week.
A deposit made the day after somebody arrives is not sitting in limbo because something failed. The account itself is still being created.
Access Corrections publishes Iowa’s lowest rates. Online at accesscorrections.com from $3.49 on a Visa or Mastercard, or by phone on 1-866-345-1884 from $4.49, and the same rates apply from inside a CorrLinks account. Cash without a card: CashPayToday at a flat $6.95, in shops including Dollar General, Family Dollar and Kum & Go, or ACE Cash Express at a flat $5.95. Cash caps at $900. Iowa notes money sent before midnight is generally available the next business day.
JPay costs more. Online at JPay.com, $3.95 to $10.95 by amount, or by phone on 1-800-574-5729, $4.95 to $11.95. Cash at a MoneyGram agent, including Walmart, CVS, 7-Eleven and Albertsons, is a flat $8.95, and up to $5,000 goes in one transaction. Money sent before 11:45 PM is generally available the next business day.
Western Union Quick Collect has exact entries that Iowa spells out and that fail silently if you guess. Pay to Iowa Department of Corrections. Code city IOWADOC. State IA. Sender’s account number is the incarcerated individual’s ID number followed by their last name, so 1234567Jones. Funds post three times a day, the last around 3:30 PM central time.
Money you send is not the money that lands, and this appears in Iowa’s funds policy rather than on any public web page.
| Deduction | Rate on outside money |
|---|---|
| State restitution | 20% |
| Federal restitution | 20% |
| State court filing fees | 10% of the balance owed |
| Federal filing fees | 20% |
| Mandatory savings | 10% |
| Department sanctions | 20% |
The savings deduction runs until the savings balance reaches $100 and then stops. The others depend on what the person owes.
A 6 percent pretax surcharge is also added to every commissary order, which Iowa calls pay for stay. It is not charged on stamped envelopes, postcards, money sent home, legal copies and fees, a driver’s licence, postage, treatment or educational purchases, religious donations, the flower fund, or a medical co-pay.
Some money is exempt from the deductions entirely, including funds the warden designates for medical costs and funeral trip costs, transportation fees, vendor refunds, property tort claims, VA benefits, and anything directed into the telephone fund.
Worth saying because Iowa spreads this across three prisons and IMCC is not any of them.
Commissary money goes to Fort Dodge. Phone money goes to Iowa State Penitentiary. Restitution, court filing fees and child support go to Iowa State Penitentiary.
Iowa State Penitentiary
PO Box 316
Fort Madison, IA 52627-0316
Iowa’s reason for centralising restitution is that a payment plan then survives a transfer between prisons rather than being rebuilt each time, which at a reception centre is not a small point.
A family deposit into a phone account has 7 percent sales tax taken off, so Iowa’s worked example is that $10 becomes $9.35. When the person inside moves their own money across instead, 7 percent is added, making $10 cost $10.70. The minimum is $1, the transfer is one way, and unused phone money is credited back on release.
Most men leave IMCC within 60 days, which raises the obvious worry about a deposit made just before the move.
Iowa’s system is built so that the answer is reassuring. The account is held centrally at Fort Dodge rather than at the prison, and restitution is administered centrally at Fort Madison, so neither is tied to the building your person sleeps in. The deposit address does not change when he transfers, and neither does the offender number that identifies it.
What the department does not publish is how a balance is handled on release, or what happens to money on a vending card, which is capped at $75 and, Iowa says, is not refunded at release absent unusual circumstances.
Cash deposits cap at $900 through Access Corrections and $5,000 through JPay.
Care packages run through Iowa Prison Industries. Orders open November 1 to November 30, delivery runs December 19 to December 23, and institutions may limit how many a person receives.
6 of 8 questions
Not to Coralville. Iowa banks every prison's money in one place, so a money order or cashier's check goes to the IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account, 1550 L Street, Suite B, Fort Dodge, IA 50501, payable to IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account. The department states money will not be accepted at or by any other location.
Send MoneyIt came with him and IMCC deposited it. Iowa's funds policy names this facility as the one that banks intake money for every man entering the system. The department's admission guidance says a new arrival may bring a bible, an address book, a small amount of photos and any cash he has, and that everything else must be collected by family or discarded before the transfer.
Send MoneyProbably nothing. Iowa tells families that if funds are sent electronically, the process for creating the new account in the banking system takes about a week. At a reception centre almost every account is brand new, so this is the usual explanation rather than the unusual one.
Send MoneyNo, and this is the single most common way a deposit gets returned. Iowa's funds policy states money orders and cashier's checks may not be sent with any other correspondence. It also has to carry the offender name and number plus your own name and complete address, or it comes back to you.
Send MoneyIowa takes deductions from outside money before it lands: 20 percent for state restitution, 20 percent for federal restitution, 10 percent of the balance owed for state court filing fees, 20 percent for federal filing fees, 10 percent into mandatory savings until that reaches $100, and 20 percent for department sanctions. A 6 percent surcharge is then added to commissary orders. None of this appears on Iowa's public money page.
Send MoneyAccess Corrections publishes Iowa's lowest rates, from $3.49 online at accesscorrections.com on a Visa or Mastercard. Paying cash costs more: ACE Cash Express is a flat $5.95 and CashPayToday a flat $6.95. JPay runs from $3.95 online and $8.95 for cash through MoneyGram.
Send MoneyThere is no need to wait. The account is held centrally at Fort Dodge rather than at IMCC, and restitution is administered centrally at Iowa State Penitentiary, so neither is attached to the prison he is standing in. The deposit address and his offender number stay the same after the move.
Send MoneyIowa publishes the exact entries and a wrong one loses the payment. Pay to Iowa Department of Corrections, code city IOWADOC, state IA, and for the sender's account number use his ID number followed by his last name, for example 1234567Jones. Funds post three times a day, with the last run around 3:30 PM central time.
Send MoneyConfirm he is still here before the money leaves.
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