Iowa: pen pal rules and how to send mail
We found no rule in this department's published policies that stops people here from being listed on a pen-pal site. Normal mail rules still apply, and no one may ask pen pals for money.
Personal letters to people in Iowa prisons go to a department-wide mail center, not to the prison. They are scanned, and the person receives a printed copy.
Checked against the department's own pages . How we check, and corrections
Pen pal listings
We found no rule in this department's published policies that stops people here from being listed on a pen-pal site. Normal mail rules still apply, and no one may ask pen pals for money.
Sending mail to someone in Iowa
Personal letters to people in Iowa prisons go to a department-wide mail center, not to the prison. They are scanned, and the person receives a printed copy.
The department gives this address format for personal mail (each prison's page below fills in its own name):
Incarcerated Individual Name - Offender ID Number Facility Name - Facility ID Number PO Box 96777 Las Vegas, NV 89193“all incoming non-legal mail must be sent to a central mail processing facility at the following address:” Department source
“Pigeonly will process the following non-legal mail at their offsite facility: Letters (including children's drawings), Greeting cards, Postcards, 4X6 Photos (limit to 10 photos), Unbound newsletters”
Electronic messages: On CorrLinks, you make an account, add the person by name and ID number, and pay per message. Step by step for each app. Department page.
Source: Iowa mail page, read 2026-10-07. Rules change; the department's page is the final word.
See also: prison mail rules and your first letter.
Prisons in Iowa (9)
How to write to someone at each one: the mailing format, mail rules and messaging, from the department's own pages.
Find someone in Iowa
We check every profile's name and ID number against this locator within a day of it going live.