Inmate Search for Dallas County - Jails in Iowa

Jail or Juvenile Detention in Dallas County, Iowa: Which Is Which?

When someone is arrested anywhere in the county, they are almost always taken to the Dallas County jail, run by the county sheriff. It is where people are booked, and where they stay if they aren't released at their first appearance before a magistrate or judge. It also holds people serving short local sentences, usually a year or less. In Iowa, that covers most simple and serious misdemeanors and some aggravated ones. Someone sentenced to state prison waits here until the Iowa Department of Corrections picks them up. Men usually go first to the reception center in Coralville, and women to the prison in Mitchellville. Some Iowa jails also house people for neighboring counties, the state or federal agencies under contract, and a few small counties send their arrestees to a nearby county's jail. Most people held here are still waiting for their cases to be decided, so the list of who is in custody changes every day. To see if someone is being held, use the Dallas County inmate search.

Very few Iowa cities run their own jails today. Where a city police department has a holding cell at the station, it is only meant for a few hours: long enough to book someone and then release them with a citation, or drive them to the county jail. Anyone who isn't released quickly ends up in the Dallas County jail. Outside the largest cities, police take arrested people straight to the county jail. If you can't find someone after an arrest, the county inmate search is the best place to look.

Iowa youths under 18 are normally held at a juvenile detention center, not the adult jail. Iowa has a small number of these centers, and most serve several counties, so a young person from Dallas County may be taken to a center outside the county. A juvenile court judge must hold a hearing quickly, usually within about a day (or the next business day after a weekend or holiday), to decide whether the youth stays in detention or goes home under supervision. In detention, youths are kept apart from adults and continue going to school and getting health care. Iowa's juvenile court officers, not adult probation, manage these cases. Juvenile records in Iowa are generally kept confidential, so youths won't show up in the inmate search. Parents and guardians should call the detention center or the Dallas County juvenile court office. One exception: 16- and 17-year-olds charged with certain serious violent felonies can have their cases start in adult court, and may be held separately within an adult facility. If a judge orders a placement after the case is decided, a boy may be sent to the State Training School in Eldora, or the judge may choose a group home or treatment program.

County Jails Surrounding Dallas County

Polk lies east of Adel's county and Guthrie west, with Boone, Greene, Adair and Madison completing the ring and Warren meeting Dallas County only at a corner.

• Boone County Jail, in Boone, north of Adel.
• Greene County Jail, run from Jefferson beyond Dallas County's upper-left edge.
• Guthrie County Jail, run from Guthrie Center on the Dallas County west flank.
• Adair County Jail, whose Greenfield facility lies southwest of Dallas County.
• Madison County Jail, Winterset, holding arrests from the southern neighbor of Infante's jurisdiction.
• Warren County Jail, Indianola, diagonally southeast.
• Polk County Jail, the Des Moines facility on Dallas County's eastern flank.