Personal letters go straight to the jail building in Waterloo, addressed like this:
[Inmate Name]
Black Hawk County Jail
225 East 6th Street
Waterloo, IA 50703
Every piece needs your return address, and jail staff search all personal mail. Letters may be typed or handwritten in pen or pencil; the paper has to be clean of stains, stickers, tape, perfume, glitter and lipstick. Inmates may send and receive as many letters as they want, but not to other inmates of this or any other jail or prison, even through a third person. Mail arriving after someone has left is returned to the sender instead of being forwarded. Questions: 319-291-2587.
Only communication belongs in the envelope. Food, drink, stationery and stamps cannot be mailed in, and the jail returns the entire piece of mail if it contains banned content: martial arts or fighting, weapons or tactics, drugs, tattoos and piercing, sexual or provocative material, racist or inflammatory writing, gang symbols, anything obscene under Iowa Code 721.8(5), or anything else that threatens safety.
Legal mail is not opened in the mailroom. Staff carry it to the inmate and open it in front of them, and the inmate keeps it. Correspondence with the State Public Defender or the court may also travel electronically; letters to and from a private attorney must go by post.
Only religious, educational or legal books may be sent, and only after the inmate gets Jail Administrator approval through a tablet request that names the seller. Approved books must ship from the publisher or another approved source such as Amazon.com; anything not pre-approved goes back to the sender. Each inmate may keep three books or magazines, three newspapers and three religious books at once. Individual magazine subscriptions are not allowed, and a newspaper subscription must be paid from outside the jail.
Outgoing letters must use envelopes bought from jail commissary, since nobody may mail stamps or envelopes in.
How should an envelope to a Black Hawk County inmate be addressed?
Are photographs allowed in letters to Black Hawk County inmates?
Can I mail stamps, envelopes or writing paper to a Black Hawk County inmate?
What is the process for getting a book to an inmate in Waterloo?
What happens to mail that breaks the Black Hawk County rules?
May an inmate in Waterloo correspond with a prisoner elsewhere?
Are pencil letters accepted at the Black Hawk County Jail?
Should a money order ride along with my letter?
Name on the first line, then Black Hawk County Jail, 225 East 6th Street, Waterloo, IA 50703; your return address goes in the corner.
The sheriff's mail rules describe letters and drawings only. Ask 319-291-2587 before enclosing a photo, and never send anything that would count as banned content.
No. Stamps, envelopes and stationery are on the banned list, and inmates buy envelopes for outgoing letters through commissary.
The inmate first asks the Jail Administrator through the tablet system, naming the seller. Once approved, a religious, educational or legal book can ship directly from the publisher or Amazon.
The whole item is returned to the sender. Mail for someone already released or transferred is also returned, not forwarded.
Not from Waterloo. The sheriff bars contact with inmates of this jail and of any other jail or prison, including through third-party mail, calls or video visits.
Yes, plain pencil is allowed, along with pen and typing. The jail turns away anything done in colored pencil, crayon, paint, felt pen or marker.
Keep deposits out of personal letters and follow the separate instructions; the Black Hawk County deposit page covers every method.
Postal mail isn't the only written option in Waterloo. CIDNET's family guide, linked by the sheriff, places messages, video visits and calls in one data-funded account. Open an account at customer.cidnet.net and ask the jail at 319-291-2587 whether messaging is active for your contact.
[Inmate Name], Black Hawk County Jail, 225 East 6th Street, Waterloo, IA 50703. The sender's name and return address belong in the upper left corner. Match the spelling of the name on the sheriff's inmate roster.