Iowa's Daily Statistics page calls this prison Fort Madison while the offender search calls it Iowa State Penitentiary, and both are the same address in Lee County. Start with a name below and we will find them.
Find your loved one and start staying in touch - photos, letters, and calls.
There is no separate roster for this prison. Iowa runs one offender search covering all nine facilities and you narrow it through the Location dropdown. The record it returns is more detailed than most states publish, carrying age, offense, both discharge dates and the most recent parole board decision. At a maximum-security prison one figure on Iowa’s separate statistics page is worth reading alongside it, because it says how many people are held in medical or segregation status, and segregation status changes what kind of visit is possible.
Open Iowa’s statewide offender search and set Location to Iowa State Penitentiary. Whichever of Iowa’s two names for this prison you start from, Pigeonly can search the name as well.
If you are not certain which prison holds them, leave Location on All instead. That tells you where they actually are, which is more useful than confirming a guess. Anyone recently sentenced in Iowa will usually be at the reception centre in Coralville rather than here, because men are classified there before being sent on.
The offender search dropdown says Iowa State Penitentiary.
The department’s Daily Statistics page, which publishes counts and capacities every day, lists the same prison as Fort Madison.
Both are official and neither cross-references the other. If you are comparing what one Iowa page says with another, that is the join.
Starts With is the default and works from a partial name.
Matches requires the name exactly as Iowa recorded it.
Sounds Like finds names pronounced the same and spelled differently. Use it whenever the spelling reached you second hand.
Sex and County of Commitment narrow a common surname. County of Commitment is where the case originated, not where the person is now, and at a maximum-security prison drawing from the whole state it will rarely be Lee County.
Iowa adds its own caution to a parole interview date: contact Board of Parole staff to confirm it rather than relying on the page.
Iowa’s Daily Statistics page publishes a third column alongside count and capacity: people in medical or segregation status.
On September 9, 2026, Fort Madison showed a count of 726 against a capacity of 612, with 153 in medical or segregation status. That is the second-highest such figure in Iowa, behind only Newton’s medium unit.
The reason a family needs it: this facility states that incarcerated individuals in a segregation status do not have contact visits. So a booked visit can turn into something other than what you expected without anybody telling you in advance. The search will not tell you a person’s status, only where they are. Ring the visit line on 319-376-4850 and ask before you drive to Lee County.
A record carrying the right name with nothing in the location, offense or date fields almost always means the person has been released.
Iowa keeps released people in the database and empties those fields rather than deleting the record. It reads like a broken search and it is your answer. Confirm by phone if a release would surprise you.
Iowa’s search disclaimer says information is updated on a weekly basis and may change quickly. A separate Iowa Department of Corrections page tells families that a transfer generally appears online within 24 hours of the move.
Both statements are official and neither acknowledges the other.
Fort Madison sits in the far southeast corner of Iowa, on the Missouri border, so this is a long drive from most of the state and a bad one to make on stale information. Ring 319-372-5432 and confirm.
They are still in county custody. Anyone awaiting trial or sentencing is held by a county, and county rosters are not in this search.
They have not been classified yet. Men entering Iowa’s system go to the reception centre at Coralville first. Set Location to All.
The spelling is different. Try Sounds Like, or search the surname alone.
They were released. See the empty record above.
They are in federal custody. There are no federal prisons in Iowa, so the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) runs a separate locator.
The offender number and the exact legal name spelling are what the rest of the system runs on.
The mail routing line needs both. A money order to Fort Dodge is returned without them. And at this prison there is a third use: a written request to unblock a telephone number goes to the ISP Business Office, and it identifies the account by that number.
6 of 7 questions
Use Iowa's statewide offender search at doc-search.iowa.gov and set the Location dropdown to Iowa State Penitentiary. There is no separate roster for this prison. If you are unsure where they are, leave Location on All, because anyone recently sentenced will usually be at the reception centre in Coralville rather than here.
Inmate SearchThey are the same prison. The offender search dropdown uses Iowa State Penitentiary while the department's Daily Statistics page, which publishes daily counts and capacities, lists it as Fort Madison. Both are official Iowa Department of Corrections pages and neither mentions the other.
Inmate SearchNo, and that is a real gap here. The record shows location but not status, while this facility states that incarcerated individuals in a segregation status do not have contact visits. Iowa's Daily Statistics page showed 153 people in medical or segregation status on September 9, 2026. Ring 319-376-4850 and ask before booking.
Inmate SearchAlmost always a release. Iowa keeps released people in the database and empties the location, offense and date fields instead of deleting the record. It looks like an error and it is really the answer, though it is worth a call if a release would be unexpected.
Inmate SearchIowa publishes two answers. The search disclaimer says information is updated on a weekly basis and may change quickly, while a separate Iowa DOC page says a transfer generally shows online within 24 hours of the move. Both are official. Fort Madison is a long drive from most of Iowa, so ring 319-372-5432 before you set off either way.
Inmate SearchUse the Sounds Like name mode, which matches names pronounced the same but spelled differently. Starts With, the default, handles a partial name, and Matches needs an exact one. Filtering by sex or County of Commitment narrows a common surname further.
Inmate SearchIowa publishes two figures. The facility page describes capacity as approximately 760, while the Daily Statistics page on September 9, 2026 gave a count of 726 against a working capacity of 612, with 153 in medical or segregation status. Both come from the Iowa Department of Corrections.
Inmate SearchThree start times, one visit a week, Friday through Monday.
View ArticleCommissary to Fort Dodge, phone and restitution to here.
View ArticleSeven cents a minute, and the office that unblocks a number.
View ArticleCode 1110, and the Fort Madison box that is not for letters.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
Search for Your Loved OneFree Inmate Search
All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 9, 2026.