Fayette County Correctional Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

The sheriff asks people to confirm both the amount and the type of bond with the jail before bringing money. Call 563-422-6067, extension 245. The sheriff also offers an online inmate search. Our inmate search page lists other ways to find someone.

1. Confirm the amount with the jail.
2. On a weekday during business hours, take the cash to the Clerk of District Court in West Union. The clerk hands you a certificate showing the bond is paid.
3. Bring that certificate to the jail on Industrial Parkway, and staff process the release.
4. After hours, skip the clerk and bring the exact cash amount straight to the sheriff's office at the jail.

A bonding agency can post the bond for a fee. You make your own deal with the agency, since the sheriff's office does not recommend or rate any company. In Iowa a commercial bond has to come from an insurance company through a licensed agent, and the fee you pay that agent is not refunded.

Before a judge sees the case, most charges follow Iowa's uniform bond schedule. A simple misdemeanor is $300, a serious misdemeanor $1,000 and an aggravated misdemeanor $2,000. Class D felonies are set at $5,000, class C at $10,000 and class B at $25,000. Forcible felonies, domestic abuse and no-contact order violations wait for a magistrate, who weighs the charge, record, family and job ties, and past court attendance under Iowa Code 811.2. Stalking, first- through third-degree sexual abuse, making or selling meth (or having it to sell), intimidation using a dangerous weapon, and a felon with a gun are handled the same way.

Senate File 2399 started on July 1, 2026. Walking out with only a signed promise to come back is now possible just for lower misdemeanors, and only if the charge has nothing to do with drugs or violence. A judge who picks an amount lower than the schedule has to explain why on paper. For now the figures above still apply. By July 1, 2027, the Judicial Council is due to hand the Supreme Court an updated list that accounts for inflation.

The clerk is at 114 North Vine Street, Suite 200, West Union, IA 52175, phone 563-422-5694, email countyclerk.fayette@iowacourts.gov. Staff there accept bond payments and hold the case files. Legal advice has to come from a lawyer instead.

Look for a warrant to be issued and the bond to be declared forfeited. Iowa Code 811.6 then gives a surety 30 days from notice to produce the defendant in court or cover the amount. Under 811.2(8), failing to appear is a new charge too. In a felony case the extra charge is itself a class D felony. Otherwise it is a serious misdemeanor.

Cash bond goes back to whoever paid it after the matter closes, provided no hearing was missed. A court order can direct the clerk to keep part of it for fines, costs or restitution. Money left on a jail account is a separate matter, covered in our money guide.

The correctional center also holds federal prisoners for the U.S. Marshals when needed. Federal charges from Fayette County land in the Eastern Division of Iowa's Northern District. Its clerk is at 111 7th Avenue SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401, 319-286-2300. County bond does not reach a federal or ICE hold. The jail honors ICE detainers under Iowa Code chapter 27A, and the ICE locator shows where someone was sent.

Bond rules for adults don't apply. A youth who is held goes to North Iowa Juvenile Detention Services, 1440 West Dunkerton Road, Waterloo, IA 50703, 319-291-2455 or to Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center, 2317 Rick Collins Way, Eldora, IA 50627, 641-858-3852, and gets a detention hearing within 1 working day.