Fort Madison is where Iowa banks phone credit and restitution for the entire state, yet commissary money for someone held here still goes to Fort Dodge. Send photos and letters too.
Send photos and letters too
This is the one Iowa prison where the money question genuinely has two answers, and mixing them up sends a payment to the wrong end of the state. Commissary deposits for somebody held at Fort Madison go to the statewide lockbox at Fort Dodge, the same as every other Iowa prison. Phone credit, restitution, court filing fees and child support come here, and not just for people held here. Iowa State Penitentiary administers those accounts for all nine prisons, which is why families with somebody in Coralville or Rockwell City are also posting things to Fort Madison.
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
That is true even though the prison you are sending to runs the state’s other money accounts. Fort Dodge is roughly four hours northwest of Fort Madison and none of that matters to you, since it is a postal address rather than somewhere to go.
Money orders are no longer accepted at any institution. Bringing one to an 11:00 AM visit 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 the rule that catches most people: money orders and cashier’s checks may not be sent with any other correspondence. A money order folded into a letter is returned. So is anything illegible or missing a detail. Deposits over $1,000 are copied to institutional security staff for approval before posting.
Iowa’s funds policy, AD-FM-11, gives this prison four statewide jobs.
| What | Where it is administered |
|---|---|
| Phone account deposits | Iowa State Penitentiary lockbox |
| Court filing fee payment plans | Iowa State Penitentiary |
| Child support orders | ISP business office |
| Blocked telephone number reinstatement | ISP Business Office |
Restitution goes here too:
Iowa State Penitentiary
PO Box 316
Fort Madison, IA 52627-0316
Iowa’s reason is continuity. A payment plan attached to one prison would be rebuilt every time somebody transferred, and in a state where nearly every man passes through a reception centre before landing anywhere, that would be constant.
The practical effect for you is that the phone deposit and the commissary deposit are two different envelopes going to two different towns, and neither office will forward to the other.
Access Corrections publishes Iowa’s lowest rates. Online at accesscorrections.com from $3.49 on a Visa or Mastercard, by phone on 1-866-345-1884 from $4.49, and at the same rates through 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. 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 needs exact entries that Iowa publishes and that fail quietly if you improvise. Pay to Iowa Department of Corrections, code city IOWADOC, state IA, and for the sender’s account number use the ID number followed by the 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 arrives, and this sits in Iowa’s funds policy rather than on any public 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% |
Savings stops once the savings balance reaches $100. The rest depend on what is owed, and at the prison that administers the state’s filing fee plans that is not an abstract point.
A 6 percent pretax surcharge, which Iowa calls pay for stay, is added to every commissary order. 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.
Exempt from the deductions: money 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.
Because this prison holds the phone lockbox, a family here is doing something the rest of Iowa cannot: sending both kinds of money into the same town, though still to two different addresses.
A phone deposit from outside means posting a money order with the printed Offender Telephone Service form, and 7 percent sales tax comes off. Iowa’s worked example is that $10 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.
Iowa’s funds policy states that weekly spending limits and possession limits are established and posted throughout the institution. They are real and enforced, and published nowhere online for this facility.
If a deposit has not been spent, a weekly cap is a likelier explanation than a problem with the payment. The person inside can read the figure even though you cannot.
Two other limits worth knowing: a vending card holds at most $75, takes one load a day, carries the 6 percent surcharge, costs $2.25 to replace, and Iowa says any balance left on it is not refunded at release absent unusual circumstances. An overdraft attempt costs a minor report and a $5 fee.
A cash deposit tops out at $900 through Access Corrections or $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
To the IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account, 1550 L Street, Suite B, Fort Dodge, IA 50501, payable to IDOC Offender Fiduciary Account. Iowa banks every prison's commissary money in one place and states that funds will not be accepted at or by any other location, including this one.
Send MoneyBecause Iowa State Penitentiary runs the phone account system for all nine prisons. Its business office lockboxes phone deposits statewide, administers court filing fee payment plans, receives child support orders, and is the only office that acts on a request to unblock a telephone number. Families with somebody in a different Iowa prison post here too.
Send MoneyNo, and this is the most common way a deposit is returned. Iowa's funds policy states money orders and cashier's checks may not be sent with any other correspondence. The money order must also carry the offender name and number plus your own name and complete address.
Send MoneyIowa deducts from outside money before it posts: 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.
Send MoneyAccess Corrections publishes Iowa's lowest rates, from $3.49 online at accesscorrections.com on a card. Cash costs more: ACE Cash Express is a flat $5.95 and CashPayToday $6.95, with cash capped at $900. JPay runs from $3.95 online and $8.95 in cash through MoneyGram, taking up to $5,000 in one go.
Send MoneyMost likely a weekly spending limit. Iowa's funds policy says limits on purchases and on what a person may possess are established and posted inside each institution, and Fort Madison publishes no figure online. The person inside can read it. Restitution or filing fee deductions may also have taken a share before the balance appeared.
Send MoneyIowa gives the exact entries. 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 transaction around 3:30 PM central time.
Send MoneyNo. Iowa stopped accepting money orders at institutions when it centralised banking at Fort Dodge, and the visiting room handles nothing but its own vending arrangement. Everything has to go by post or through Access Corrections, JPay or Western Union.
Send MoneyThe offender number every deposit is identified by.
View ArticleThree start times, one visit a week, Friday through Monday.
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.
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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.