Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

Iowa's only women's prison, in Mitchellville, holding women at all custody levels and serving as the statewide women's reception and classification center.

Overview

The Iowa Correctional Institution for Women (ICIW), on Mill Street SW in Mitchellville, Polk County, is Iowa’s only state prison for women. It is in the Des Moines metro area. The campus, expanded to 888 beds in 2017, holds women across the full custody range — minimum, medium, and maximum — and offers gender-responsive services in both dormitory and celled housing. The Iowa DOC’s summary page labels the facility “Medium,” but the campus holds all custody levels.

What Makes ICIW Different

• It is Iowa’s only women’s prison. Women sentenced to the Iowa DOC are held here, across all custody levels.
• It is the statewide women’s reception and classification center. Newly committed women enter Iowa’s prison system through ICIW, where intake processing, diagnostic assessment, and classification are completed — the women’s counterpart to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, which serves as the men’s reception center.

Visiting

The statewide Iowa DOC rules — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and what visitors may bring — apply at ICIW. The facility’s own arrangements:

The full approval process is in Visiting in Iowa.

Communication

Iowa uses Ameelio, a nonprofit provider, for phone calls, video visits, and electronic messaging. Ameelio’s services are provided free to families. Video visits are scheduled through the Ameelio Connect app. Details are in Phone & Video Calls.

Mail

Iowa does not deliver friends-and-family mail to the prison. Personal mail is processed off-site by a private vendor, Pigeonly, in Las Vegas, Nevada, which opens and scans each item and sends a copy to the facility. Mail sent directly to the prison is returned to the sender.

Personal mail is addressed to the person and the facility at Pigeonly’s Las Vegas P.O. Box, and each facility has a numeric ID code that must appear on the envelope. The exact address and ICIW’s facility ID code are in the Mail & Packages guide. Legal and privileged mail goes directly to the facility’s own address, not to Pigeonly.

Verify the current mailing rules and the facility’s address before sending anything.

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