Iowa's daily figures call this prison Rockwell City while the offender search calls it North Central, and both mean 313 Lanedale Street. Start with a name below and we will find them.
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North Central publishes no roster of its own. Iowa runs one offender search covering all nine prisons plus community supervision, and you narrow it here through the Location dropdown. The record it returns is more detailed than most states publish, carrying age, offense, both discharge dates and the latest parole board decision. The reason to check it more than once at this prison is crowding: North Central held roughly double its working capacity on September 9, 2026, and a prison in that position moves people.
Open Iowa’s statewide offender search and set Location to North Central Correctional Facility. With Rockwell City at about double its working capacity, it’s worth also running the name through Pigeonly.
If you are not sure where somebody is, leave Location on All instead. That returns where they actually are, which beats confirming a guess, and it also picks up anybody on community supervision, since the dropdown lists each judicial district alongside the nine prisons.
Anyone recently sentenced will usually be at the reception centre in Coralville rather than here, because men entering Iowa’s system are classified there first.
The offender search dropdown says North Central Correctional Facility.
The department’s Daily Statistics page, which publishes counts and capacities daily, calls the same prison Rockwell City.
Iowa Code adds a third phrasing, naming it the North central correctional facility at Rockwell City. All three mean 313 Lanedale Street in Calhoun County, and none of the pages cross-references the others.
On September 9, 2026, Rockwell City showed a count of 488 against a working capacity of 245, with just 18 people in medical or segregation status.
That is roughly double capacity, and it is the worst ratio of any prison in Iowa. The next worst, the reception centre at Coralville, sits at 1,009 against 585. Iowa’s system as a whole was 28.8 percent over capacity that day, with 9,003 people held against 6,990.
The facility’s own page describes capacity as approximately 500, which is a different kind of figure from the operational one and roughly twice as large. Both are Iowa Department of Corrections numbers.
Why this belongs on a search page: a prison at double its working capacity is under pressure to move people, so a location confirmed a month ago is not a location confirmed today. Check again before you drive to Calhoun County.
Starts With is the default and handles a partial name.
Matches requires the name exactly as Iowa recorded it.
Sounds Like finds names pronounced the same and spelled differently, which is the setting for a spelling that came to you second hand.
Sex and County of Commitment narrow a common surname. County of Commitment means where the case originated, not where the person is now.
Iowa adds a caution of its own to any parole interview date: contact Board of Parole staff to confirm it rather than trusting the page.
A record with the right name and 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. At a minimum-security prison, release is a likelier explanation than a transfer, though at this one both are common.
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 a transfer generally shows online within 24 hours of the move.
Both are official and neither mentions the other.
Rockwell City is in the northwest quarter of the state, well away from Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities, so a wasted trip here is a long one. Ring 712-297-7521 and confirm before setting off.
They are in county custody. Anyone awaiting trial or sentencing is held by a county, and county rosters are not in this search.
They are still at the reception centre. Men entering Iowa’s prison system are classified at Coralville first. Set Location to All.
The spelling differs. Try Sounds Like, or search the surname alone.
They were released. See the empty record above.
The case was federal. There are no federal prisons anywhere in Iowa, so the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) runs a separate locator.
Write down the offender number and the exact legal name spelling the first time you find them.
The mail routing line needs both, alongside code 1112. A money order to Fort Dodge is returned without them. And the visitor application, which travels to Mount Pleasant rather than to this prison, asks for both on the first line.
6 of 7 questions
Use Iowa's statewide offender search at doc-search.iowa.gov and set the Location dropdown to North Central Correctional Facility. There is no separate roster here. If you are unsure where they are, leave Location on All, since anyone recently sentenced will usually be at the reception centre in Coralville instead.
Inmate SearchBecause that is the town it sits in, and the department's Daily Statistics page uses the town name while the offender search uses the facility name. Iowa Code names it the North central correctional facility at Rockwell City. All three refer to 313 Lanedale Street in Calhoun County.
Inmate SearchMore than any other Iowa prison. On September 9, 2026 the Daily Statistics page gave Rockwell City a count of 488 against a working capacity of 245, roughly double, with only 18 people in medical or segregation status. The facility page separately describes capacity as approximately 500. Both figures are official.
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 a broken search and it is really the answer, though confirm by phone if a release would surprise you.
Inmate SearchIowa publishes two answers. The search disclaimer says data is updated on a weekly basis and may change quickly, while a separate Iowa DOC page says a transfer generally appears within 24 hours of the move. Both are official, and at a prison running at double capacity the slower figure is the safer assumption.
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, meaning where the case originated, narrows a common surname further.
Inmate SearchYes. The prison is in the northwest quarter of Iowa, a long way from Des Moines or the Quad Cities, and it holds roughly double its working capacity, which puts pressure on transfers. Iowa's own update guidance contradicts itself, so ring 712-297-7521 and confirm before you set off.
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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.