Iowa

At a glance

Certifying body

The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy director, with council approval and in consultation with DOC and the sheriffs’ and peace officers’ associations, adopts minimum training standards for jailers (Iowa Code 80B.11A), and the council “may” issue certificates to jailers who meet its hiring and training requirements (80B.13(3)). State prison correctional officers and community-based corrections (probation and parole) staff are DOC employees trained by DOC. The council is covered on the Iowa Officer Ledger page.

Statute

Iowa Code chapter 80B (Law Enforcement Academy), chapter 80F (peace officer, public safety, and emergency personnel bill of rights, which covers corrections officers, jailers, and probation and parole officers), chapter 356 (jails and municipal holding facilities, including standards in 356.36 and inspection in 356.43), and chapter 904 (DOC, including judicial district departments in 904.104A and discipline and force in 904.505). Rules: 501 IAC 9 (jailer training) and 201 IAC 50 (jail facilities).

Minimum standards

Jailers must complete a 40-hour Academy-approved program (or the National Sheriffs’ Association correspondence course) within one year of employment or assignment, and jail administrators within six months of appointment. They must also hold current CPR, AED, and airway-obstruction cards and first-aid training (501 IAC 9.1(1)). No statutory hiring standards for jailers or DOC correctional officers were found; the Academy’s physical, educational, moral, and psychological standards in 80B.11 apply to law enforcement officers.

Basic training

Jailers: a 40-hour basic course. Required topics include suicide prevention and mental illness; legal topics (grievance and discipline procedures, inmates’ constitutional rights, the affirmative duty to intervene, and use of force under Iowa Code 704.1 to 704.8); implicit bias; de-escalation; methods of restraining violent inmates; intake; supervision; searches; and jail standards (501 IAC 9.1(1)(b)). DOC: “All new employees hired receive pre-service training which could last between one to four weeks depending on their specific job class,” at the DOC Learning Center in Des Moines (DOC Careers).

In-service training

Jailers and jail administrators: 20 hours each fiscal year after basic training, excluding chemical-agent and firearms proficiency. At least 10 hours must cover the annually required topics (including suicide prevention, PREA, emergency evacuation, bloodborne pathogens, legal topics such as use of force and duty to intervene, implicit bias, de-escalation, restraint methods, and intake), and 10 more are chosen by the jail administrator or sheriff. CPR and AED training is required every two years (501 IAC 9.1(2)). Holding-facility administrators and supervisors need 5 hours a year (9.2(2)). DOC staff get ongoing training; no hour figure was found in a primary source.

Decertification

Iowa Code 80B.13A covers certified law enforcement and reserve peace officers. The council “shall revoke” for a felony plea or conviction, a discharge for serious misconduct, or leaving while an investigation was imminent or pending if the council determines that the officer engaged in serious misconduct (80B.13A(2)). No revocation process for jailer certificates or DOC correctional officers was found. No public decertification list is published (Officer Ledger page).

Jail standards

DOC, in consultation with the sheriffs’, peace officers’, cities’, and supervisors’ associations, draws up minimum standards for jails, alternative jails, and municipal holding facilities, adopted as rules (Iowa Code 356.36; 201 IAC 50 and 51). DOC inspectors “shall make periodic inspections of each jail or municipal holding facility.” DOC may order corrections or prohibit confinement, hold a hearing, and ask the attorney general to seek an injunction (356.43). The only remedy for a rule violation is a compliance proceeding begun by request to DOC; there is no damages action (356.36(2)).

Probation and parole officers

Adult probation and parole officers work for the eight judicial district departments of correctional services. Since July 1, 2023, each department is under DOC’s direction, its district director is employed and appointed by DOC, and all of its employees are DOC employees (Iowa Code 904.104A, 904.301A). DOC adopts rules for community-based corrections and for parole and work release supervision, since 2025 with the Board of Corrections’ “advice and recommendations” rather than its approval (904.108(1)(l)). Training is through DOC; no separate certification exists.

Restrictive housing

Jails: if a confined person is refractory or disorderly or wilfully damages the jail, the sheriff may have the person “kept in solitary confinement not more than ten days for any one offense,” fed at least the DOC minimum diet unless other food is needed for health (Iowa Code 356.14). No statutory limit on segregation in DOC prisons was found; discipline is governed by 904.505 and DOC rules.

Corrections use of force

If an inmate resists or refuses a lawful command, a correctional officer or the officer’s assistant may “only use such force as is reasonably necessary under all attendant circumstances.” A deadly weapon is justified only “under conditions of extreme necessity and as a last resort to protect the life or safety of a person,” not solely to protect property. Force that complies is justified even if it causes injury or death (Iowa Code 904.505(3)). Jailer training must cover use of force and the duty to intervene. No statute on restraining pregnant prisoners was found in chapters 356 or 904.

Changes, 2023 to 2026

• Jun 2, 2026

  Brady-Giglio court review applies to past placements; officers who win get attorney fees

  HF 2797 (2026), amending Iowa Code 80F.1(25)Signed June 2, 2026; effective on enactment; applies to placements and later proceedings on and after July 1, 2021

  “An officer placed on a Brady-Giglio list by a prosecuting agency, regardless of when such placement, action, or decision occurred, shall have the rights afforded under this subsection,” including district court review. If the court finds for the officer, it “shall award the officer equitable relief, reasonable attorney fees, expenses, and court costs,” paid by the state, city, or county responsible for the prosecuting agency. The chapter 80F definition of officer includes corrections officers, jailers, and probation and parole officers.

  For corrections staff: A corrections or probation officer placed on a Brady-Giglio list since July 2021 can seek review in court and recover fees if successful.

  HF 2797 enrolled 2026 enrolled bills

• Jul 1, 2025

  Tougher penalties for assaults on jailers and correctional staff; spitting covered

  SF 397 (2025), amending Iowa Code 708.3A and 708.3BSigned April 18, 2025; effective July 1, 2025

  For assaults on a peace officer, jailer, “correctional or juvenile detention staff,” and other listed workers, the act adds juvenile detention staff and Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing investigators to the protected list. Assault with intent to inflict serious injury, or using or displaying a dangerous weapon, on these workers rises from a class D to a class C felony. An assault causing bodily injury or mental illness rises from an aggravated misdemeanor to a class D felony. Any other assault, now expressly “including an assault causing another to come into contact with saliva by throwing, tossing, spitting, or expelling the fluid,” rises from a serious to an aggravated misdemeanor, with a mandatory minimum of seven days. Under 708.3B, an inmate assault on a jail or DOC employee that results in contact with saliva, added to blood, seminal fluid, urine, or feces, is a class D felony.

  For corrections staff: An inmate who spits on a jail or prison employee commits a class D felony, and a simple assault on corrections staff, the lowest tier, now carries a 7-day mandatory minimum.

  SF 397 enrolled 2025 enrolled bills

• Jul 1, 2025

  Board of Corrections becomes advisory on DOC budgets, rules, and parole supervision

  HF 398 (2025), amending Iowa Code 904.108 and related sectionsSigned May 6, 2025; effective July 1, 2025

  The DOC director’s budget, internal management rules, and “rules, policies, and procedures” for community-based corrections and parole and work release supervision were “subject to the approval” of the Board of Corrections. They are now subject to its “advice and recommendations.” Furloughs likewise need the board’s advice and recommendations rather than its express approval.

  For corrections staff: DOC can issue operating and supervision rules for prisons and probation and parole without Board of Corrections approval.

  HF 398 enrolled 2025 enrolled bills

• Jul 1, 2024

  No bail for murder of a correctional officer; moving-expense tax credit for new officers

  HF 2661 (2024), amending Iowa Code 811.1 and adding 422.12PSigned May 1, 2024; effective July 1, 2024; tax credit applicable from January 1, 2024

  A defendant charged with first-degree murder of a peace officer or correctional officer, knowing the victim’s status and while the officer was acting in an official capacity, “shall not be admitted to bail.” Felonious assault upon a peace or correctional officer is added to the offenses that bar bail after a guilty plea or verdict and during an appeal. A new income tax credit for moving expenses is available to new residents who move to Iowa after July 1, 2024 to work full time as a “public safety officer,” defined as “a peace officer as defined in section 801.4 or a correctional officer.”

  For corrections staff: Correctional officers get the same bail protections as police against attackers, and recruits moving from another state may claim a moving-expense credit.

  HF 2661 enrolled 2024 enrolled bills

• Jul 1, 2023

  Probation and parole staff of judicial district departments become DOC employees

  SF 514 (2023), 2023 Iowa Acts ch. 19, Division XVI, amending Iowa Code 905.2 to 905.9 (now 904.104A and following)Effective July 1, 2023 (computed: the division has no effective-date section, so Iowa’s July 1 default applies; the enrolled-bills list shows July 1, 2023)

  Each judicial district department of correctional services had been a public agency directed by its own board, which employed the district director. Now each department is under DOC’s direction, its director is employed and appointed by DOC, and “All employees of a district department shall be employees of the Iowa department of corrections.” District boards become advisory boards. The division states that it does not affect a probation or parole officer’s authority to arrest a supervisee on probable cause of a violation.

  For corrections staff: Community-based corrections officers are state DOC employees under DOC policy; district boards only advise.

  SF 514 enrolled Iowa Code ch. 904

• Jun 1, 2023

  Brady-Giglio list rules made permanent; prosecutors must keep officer files confidential

  2023 Iowa Acts ch. 149 (HF 631), amending Iowa Code 80F.1Signed June 1, 2023; effective on enactment

  The act strikes the provision that the Brady-Giglio list definition “is repealed July 1, 2023,” making it permanent. It adds that a prosecuting agency “shall keep confidential and shall not release to the public an officer’s personnel file, medical records, or any statement, recording, transcript, or complaint” protected under 80F.1(20), except to the officer or the officer’s counsel or as law or court order provides. Chapter 80F covers corrections officers, detention officers, jailers, and probation and parole officers.

  For corrections staff: Personnel and investigative records a prosecutor receives about you for Brady-Giglio review must be kept confidential.

  HF 631 enrolled Iowa Code 80F.1

• Jan 18, 2023

  Jailer in-service restructured: per-topic hours dropped, 10 core hours plus 10 elective hours

  Academy rulemaking ARC 6727C (IAB December 14, 2022), amending 501 IAC 9.1(1)(b), 9.1(2), and 9.2(2)Adopted November 10, 2022; effective January 18, 2023

  The annual 20-hour jailer in-service total is unchanged. Before, the required topics carried per-topic minimums totaling 12 hours (for example 3 hours of suicide prevention and 2 hours of implicit bias), plus 8 hours chosen by the administrator. Now the required topics must total a “10 hours minimum” with no per-topic minimums, and the portion chosen by the jail administrator or sheriff rises from 8 to 10 hours. “Medical screening at intake” becomes “Intake procedures.” In the 40-hour basic curriculum, PREA, bloodborne pathogens, DNA submissions, and medication management are marked “recommended prerequisite.”

  For corrections staff: Jail training officers can divide the 20 annual hours more freely, but every listed core topic must still be covered each year.

  ARC 6727C 501 IAC ch. 9

Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass

Checked and unchanged

Bills in the legislature

Bills in the current session whose title concerns corrections officers, jails, probation and parole, and conditions of confinement, found automatically in LegiScan's copy of the legislature's records and refreshed daily (last on October 21, 2026). This list is not reviewed by an editor and is not a summary of the bills; each links to the legislature's own page, which controls. Bills that become law are added to the dated entries above once checked.

• Introduced

  HSB24: A bill for an act relating to assaults, including assaults on persons engaged in certain occupations and inmate assaults on department of corrections employees, and providing penalties.(See HF 177.)

  Last action January 30, 2025: Committee report approving bill, renumbered as HF 177.. 91st General Assembly.

• Introduced

  SSB1058: A bill for an act relating to assaults, including assaults on persons engaged in certain occupations and inmate assaults on department of corrections employees, and providing penalties.(See SF 397.)

  Last action February 19, 2025: Committee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 397.. 91st General Assembly.

• Introduced

  HF177: A bill for an act relating to assaults, including assaults on persons engaged in certain occupations and inmate assaults on department of corrections employees, and providing penalties.(Formerly HSB 24.)

  Last action March 27, 2025: Withdrawn. H.J. 866.. 91st General Assembly.

• Enacted

  SF397: A bill for an act relating to assaults, including assaults on persons engaged in certain occupations and inmate assaults on department of corrections employees, and providing penalties. (Formerly SSB 1058.) Effective …

  Last action April 18, 2025: Signed by Governor. S.J. 845.. 91st General Assembly.

• Introduced

  HSB510: A bill for an act relating to the possession of contraband in department of corrections facilities, and providing penalties.(See HF 2119.)

  Last action January 21, 2026: Committee report approving bill, renumbered as HF 2119.. 91st General Assembly.

• Introduced

  HF2119: A bill for an act relating to the possession of contraband in department of corrections facilities, and providing penalties.(Formerly HSB 510.)

  Last action January 21, 2026: Introduced, placed on calendar. H.J. 131.. 91st General Assembly.

• Introduced

  SSB3137: A bill for an act requiring cost-benefit analyses of county jail projects, and including effective date provisions.(See SF 2368.)

  Last action February 17, 2026: Committee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 2368.. 91st General Assembly.

• Passed one chamber

  SF2368: A bill for an act requiring cost-benefit analyses of county jail projects, and including effective date provisions.(Formerly SSB 3137.)

  Last action March 26, 2026: Placed on calendar under unfinished business. H.J. 760.. 91st General Assembly.

The law, section by section

Every section of the statutes and rules this page relies on that could be read from an official source, 213 in all, each linked to the official text. Headings are copied from the official tables of contents, checked October 21, 2026.