Medium · State Prison · Iowa DOC

Anamosa State Penitentiary

Anamosa, Jones County, Iowa

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: (319) 462-3504 Info last verified: June 2026

A medium-security men's prison in Anamosa, built of local limestone in the 1870s, with a minimum-security prison farm satellite at Luster Heights.

Statewide rules that apply at Iowa DOC prisons

These rules are set by Iowa DOC and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in Iowa.

Dress code

Dress modestly — Iowa facilities enforce a visiting dress code that bars revealing, sheer, or provocative clothing, gang-related items, and anything resembling what incarcerated individuals or staff wear.
Each facility may turn away a visitor who is dressed out of code, and electronics are not allowed inside, so confirm the specific facility's rules before traveling.

ID: Every visitor must be on the incarcerated individual's approved visiting list before visiting — applications go by mail to the Centralized Visiting Authority at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, and the list is capped at six approved visitors plus immediate family. Bring a government-issued photo ID to each visit.
What to bring: Bring only what the facility allows — most personal items are not permitted in the visiting room. Money for an incarcerated individual's account is sent through Access Corrections, JPay, or Western Union, never handed over at a visit.
Scheduling: Iowa has no single statewide online scheduler — once a visitor is approved, in-person and video visits are scheduled per facility through the Ameelio Connect app, and each institution offers visiting at least four days a week. Men enter the system at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center (Coralville); women at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women (Mitchellville).

Full statewide rules: Visiting in Iowa

Overview

Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) is a state prison for men operated by the Iowa Department of Corrections. It is in Anamosa, the seat of Jones County, in eastern Iowa, about 25 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids. It is one of Iowa’s oldest prisons: the institution was commissioned in 1872 and its main structures were built of local Anamosa limestone in the decades that followed.

Anamosa held men at a combination of medium and maximum security for most of its history. In 2023 it was redesignated as a medium-security facility, and maximum-security men were moved to the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison. ASP is not a reception, medical, or reentry center; newly sentenced men enter the Iowa system at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville and are assigned to Anamosa or another prison after intake.

What Makes Anamosa Different

Anamosa is among the oldest prisons in Iowa, and its limestone buildings date to the late 1800s. Since its 2023 redesignation it holds a medium-security men’s population rather than a maximum-security or single-mission population.

A minimum-security prison farm, Luster Heights, is administratively part of Anamosa State Penitentiary rather than a separate facility. It is located near Harpers Ferry, in Allamakee County in far northeastern Iowa, within the Yellow River State Forest. Because Luster Heights operates under Anamosa, families confirm with the facility which site applies to a specific person before arranging a visit or sending anything.

Visiting

The statewide Iowa DOC rules — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID requirements, and item limits — apply at Anamosa. The facility’s own arrangements:

Getting There and Parking

Anamosa State Penitentiary is at 406 N High St in Anamosa, in Jones County in eastern Iowa. Anamosa is about 25 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids; the nearest large commercial airport is The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids. The Luster Heights satellite is a separate drive in far northeastern Iowa, near Harpers Ferry in Allamakee County.

Visitors confirm current entry procedures, the visitor-processing location, and what may be brought onto the grounds with the facility before arriving, because electronic devices and personal items are generally not permitted inside.

Mail

Iowa does not deliver friends-and-family mail to the prison. Personal (non-legal) mail goes off-site to a private vendor, Pigeonly, at a central processing center in Las Vegas, Nevada, which opens and scans each item and delivers the copy to the facility; originals are not returned. Mail sent directly to the prison is returned to the sender.

Each Iowa facility has a numeric Facility ID code that must appear in the address along with the person’s name and offender ID number. Anamosa State Penitentiary’s confirmed Facility ID code is 1106. The Mail & Packages guide has the exact Pigeonly address and the full addressing format.

Legal and privileged mail goes directly to the facility, not to Pigeonly. Verify the current mailing rules and the correct addresses before sending anything.

Communication

Iowa contracts with Ameelio, a nonprofit, for communication across its prisons, including Anamosa. Ameelio provides phone calls, video visits, and electronic messaging, offered to families at no charge. Video visits are scheduled through the Ameelio Connect app after the visitor is approved. The Phone & Video Calls guide covers setting up an account and using these services.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at an Iowa prison:

Visiting in Iowa — approval process, dress code, scheduling
Mail & Packages — what you can send and what gets rejected
Phone & Video Calls — accounts, call costs, video visits
Sending Money — how to add funds to an account
Medical & Mental Health — health care in Iowa prisons
Transfers — what happens during transfers

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.