Somebody released from an Iowa prison in the last six months cannot be called at all, which catches families with more than one person inside. Create your phone account in minutes.
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Iowa charges seven cents a minute to the lower 48, which is among the lowest published prison rates in the country, and it says outright where the money goes. The rule most likely to catch a Newton family is a different one: nobody released from an Iowa prison within the last six months may be called. At a facility whose whole purpose includes preparing people for release, that comes up more here than elsewhere. Calls come out only, several kinds of number are blocked outright, and Iowa names no phone vendor at all.
Iowa’s telephone policy bars calls to a list of people, and one entry on it surprises families more than the rest: anyone released from prison within the last six months.
Newton is where that matters most. The Correctional Release Center on this site exists to prepare people for parole, work release or discharge, so a household here is more likely than most to contain somebody recently out. A brother who left Newton in the spring cannot take a call from a brother still inside it until six months have passed.
The rest of the barred list: department staff, victims and their households, minors where the offence involved a minor, anyone protected by a no-contact order, and people currently under correctional supervision, with limited exceptions for immediate family.
Iowa publishes a flat seven cents per minute for all calls within the lower 48 states. Twenty minutes costs $1.40.
The department explains the pricing rather than burying it. Its rate sheet says the costs are reflected in the rates, “which are lower than for most other states,” and Iowa Code chapter 904.508A puts the money into a fund the Board of Corrections directs to legal services, religious accommodations, education, and victim services.
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 |
International calls are Iowa’s seven cents plus whatever the provider paid to route them.
Nobody rings in. Every call is outbound and it only connects if the person inside has added your number to their approved calling list.
Iowa requires them to give the legal first and last name of whoever owns each number. A number added without one can be restricted.
There is nothing for you to do. It happens from inside, and the first sign it worked is a call.
Iowa blocks these outright:
A number that forwards to a mobile is the quiet one. It looks like a normal landline and it will never work.
Newton’s commissary money goes to Fort Dodge. Phone money goes to Iowa State Penitentiary, in Fort Madison.
Funding 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: $10 becomes a $9.35 credit. When the person inside transfers their own money instead, 7 percent is added, so $10 costs them $10.70.
The minimum transfer is $1, money moved onto the phone account cannot be moved back, and anything unused is credited back on release. That last point matters at a release-focused facility: unspent phone credit is not lost.
Blocking a number is easy. Ask the institution, or take the option offered when a call arrives.
Unblocking is not. Iowa requires it in writing to the Iowa State Penitentiary Business Office, and the request must come from the owner of the telephone number. Not from the person inside, not by phone, and not through Newton.
Incoming legal calls need five days advance notice, run Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and are booked in 25-minute intervals in a private phone room. Iowa’s policy states these are not monitored.
Outgoing calls to attorney numbers registered with the Iowa Supreme Court are also not monitored or recorded.
Iowa states it plainly: 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 landlines.
You pay for the minutes either way. A genuine landline is the only thing Iowa treats differently.
Iowa runs offender email through CorrLinks at $0.25 a message. Register at corrlinks.com.
The person inside funds their side the same way as phone credit, with 7 percent added. Iowa’s family page caps a message at 13,000 characters or 100 lines, about two pages, while two of the department’s own policies say 14,000. The discrepancy is Iowa’s and it stands unresolved.
6 of 8 questions
Iowa bars calls to anyone released from prison within the last six months. It is one entry on a longer barred list that also covers department staff, victims and their households, and people currently under correctional supervision. The rule comes up more at Newton than elsewhere, because the Correctional Release Center on this site prepares people for release.
Phone CallsSeven cents a minute to anywhere in the lower 48, so twenty minutes is $1.40. Alaska is 12 cents, Hawaii 14 cents. Iowa states its rates are lower than most states because the revenue goes into a fund the Board of Corrections directs to legal services, religious accommodations, education and victim services.
Phone CallsEither your number is not on their approved list yet, or Iowa blocks that type. Blocked types include toll-free numbers starting 800, 888, 877, 866, 855 and 844, 900 numbers, forwarded numbers, credit card calls and three-way calls. A landline that forwards to a mobile is the one that catches people out, because it looks like it should work.
Phone CallsPost a money order with the printed Offender Telephone Service form to Iowa State Penitentiary, which banks phone money for the whole state. Note that commissary money goes to Fort Dodge instead, so the two are separate. A family deposit also loses 7 percent to sales tax, so Iowa's own example is that $10 becomes a $9.35 credit.
Phone CallsIowa never says. No Iowa DOC page and no policy names a telephone vendor, and the policy refers only to the contractor managing the offender phone system. We would rather tell you that than print a company name we cannot verify from an official Iowa source.
Phone CallsNot published. Iowa's telephone policy leaves call length and call frequency to each institution, and Newton publishes neither, nor whether the Correctional Release Center differs from the medium facility. Ask on 641-792-7552, because that is what turns a seven-cent rate into a monthly figure.
Phone CallsIt comes back. Iowa states that unused phone money is credited back on release, which matters at Newton because the Correctional Release Center exists to move people toward exactly that. Money already moved onto the phone account cannot be transferred back to commissary before release, though.
Phone CallsIn writing to the Iowa State Penitentiary Business Office, and the request has to come from the owner of the telephone number rather than the person inside. Not by phone, and not through Newton. Iowa makes blocking easy and unblocking deliberately harder.
Phone CallsThe offender number every account setup asks for.
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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.