Locate Dubuque Residential Facility Residents

Dubuque Residential Facility Overview

Dubuque Residential Facility is operated by the Iowa Department of Corrections through the First Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. The facility address is 1494 Elm St., Dubuque, IA 52001, and the listed facility phone is 563-556-6196. DOC's First District page also lists a Dubuque office at 745 Main St., Dubuque, IA 52001, with phone 563-557-7244. Dubuque County is one of the counties served by that district.

The facility should be described with care. It is not Dubuque County Jail, and the Dubuque County P2C roster is not the proper lookup tool for residents in this setting. It is also not one of Iowa's nine state prison institutions. Research identifies it as community-based corrections, residential correctional facility, and work-release-style housing. DOC describes residential correctional facilities generally as non-secure housing with 24-hour supervision where residents may leave for approved employment, job seeking, treatment, or programming.

The official Iowa DOC First Judicial District page lists the Dubuque Residential Facility and the Dubuque district office. The screenshot below is used because it ties the Elm Street facility to Iowa DOC's district structure instead of the county jail roster.

That district listing is the better institutional source for the facility's role, while the statewide DOC offender locator is the better public search source for a named state-supervised person.

Dubuque Residential Facility Population

A current official capacity page for Dubuque Residential Facility was not located. The Facility Map research preserved one historical figure from the Prisoners of the Census Iowa correctional-population list and BJS-related community-based correctional facility references: Dubuque Residential Facility was listed with a 128 population figure tied to a June 30, 2012 reference. That number should be treated as historical population context, not a current count and not a rated capacity unless a current official DOC source confirms it.

Because residential community corrections differs from jail custody, the population can change through approvals, sanctions, transfers, treatment placement, employment status, and returns to custody after rule violations. A person at Dubuque Residential Facility may be under state supervision while still leaving for approved work or programming. That is very different from the Dubuque County Jail population, which is tied to new arrests, warrants, pretrial detention, short jail commitments, and jail-administered work release or house arrest.

Dubuque Residential Facility Lookup

Dubuque Residential Facility residents are searched through the Iowa DOC Offender Search, not the Dubuque Police-to-Citizen Inmate Inquiry. The P2C roster is built for current Dubuque County Jail inmates and recent county arrests. DOC Offender Search covers sentenced state offenders and state-supervised records, including community corrections placements when the public record is available. DOC says offender records are public under Iowa Code 904.601(1), that the information is believed accurate, and that updates occur weekly but status can change quickly.

The Iowa DOC Offender Search is the search tool to use for a person believed to be at Dubuque Residential Facility or under First District supervision. The screenshot below shows the statewide DOC interface rather than a county jail roster.

If the DOC locator does not show the person, that does not prove the person is in the county jail. The person may be newly arrested, still in Dubuque County Jail, under another district, released from supervision, listed under a different name spelling, or held in federal or immigration custody.

1. Open Iowa DOC Offender Search rather than the Dubuque P2C Inmate Inquiry.
2. Search by last name and first name, or use the offender number if it is known.
3. Use filters such as sex, location, offense, county of commitment, and name-search mode when the name is common.
4. For Dubuque-linked cases, try County of Commitment = Dubuque and review location information carefully.
5. Call Dubuque Residential Facility or the DOC First District Dubuque office if a current visit, mail, work-release, or resident-status detail must be confirmed.

Dubuque Residential Facility Contact

Direct facility questions should go to the Elm Street facility phone or the DOC First District Dubuque office. That is especially important for current resident status, visit approval, mail routing, work-release schedule questions, and return-to-custody issues. The county jail office should not be treated as the first contact for people under DOC First District residential supervision.

Dubuque Residential Facility Visits

Facility-specific current visitation rules for Dubuque Residential Facility were not located on a separate public page during research. Because it is a community-based residential facility, visit rules may differ from both the county jail's JailATM video-visit system and Iowa prison visiting rules. Call 563-556-6196 or the DOC First District Dubuque office before traveling, and ask whether the resident is eligible for a visit, what identification is required, whether advance approval or scheduling is needed, and where visitors should report.

Do not rely on the Dubuque County Jail visitation schedule for Dubuque Residential Facility. The jail schedule applies to the sheriff-operated jail and its video visitation process. The residential facility is under DOC First District community corrections, so the safer path is direct confirmation with DOC staff for the current resident and date.

Dubuque Residential Facility Mail

Current facility-specific mail rules for Dubuque Residential Facility were not located in a separate public page. That gap should be preserved because county jail mail rules are not a substitute. The Dubuque County Jail uses a JailATM processing address for personal mail, but Dubuque Residential Facility is a DOC First District residential correctional facility and may have different procedures for letters, packages, resident property, approved senders, or business documents.

DOC offender banking is more clearly documented at the statewide level. Iowa DOC offender banking materials say incoming money for offender spending or commissary accounts is centralized through Fort Dodge Correctional Facility and is not accepted at or by other locations for offender spending or commissary accounts. Before sending funds connected to a Dubuque Residential Facility resident, confirm the current DOC banking method and whether the resident's supervision status allows the account action.

Dubuque Residential Facility Placement

Dubuque Residential Facility is not a street-arrest booking point like Dubuque County Jail. A resident's path usually comes through state supervision, court sentence, work-release placement, residential correctional assignment, sanction, or reentry programming. Community-based corrections can require a resident to live at the facility, follow sign-in and sign-out rules, attend treatment or programming, and leave only for approved work, job seeking, treatment, or other authorized reasons.

That role explains why the lookup path differs. Fresh arrests and pretrial jail bookings belong in Dubuque County Jail and the P2C Inmate Inquiry. State-supervised residential placements belong in Iowa DOC Offender Search when a public DOC record is available. If a resident fails to return or leaves without approval, DOC may publish a voluntary-absence or work-release escape notice. Those notices are operational status updates, not county jail mugshot listings.

Community-based corrections

State supervision and services delivered in the community rather than inside a prison institution.

Residential correctional facility

A supervised housing setting where residents may leave for approved work, treatment, or programming.

Work release

A status that can allow approved employment while the person remains under custody rules.

County jail

The sheriff-operated local detention facility for arrests, warrants, pretrial custody, and short jail commitments.

Dubuque Residential Facility Context

Iowa DOC press releases in November 2025 and February 2026 reported voluntary absence or work-release escape incidents from Dubuque Residential Facility. Those reports are useful because they confirm the facility's operational role as a residential work-release setting where approved residents may be expected to leave and return under supervision. They should not be used to recast the facility as a county jail or state prison.

For Dubuque County residents searching broadly, the custody split is the main point. Dubuque County Jail handles county jail custody and the P2C roster. Dubuque Residential Facility handles state community-based residential supervision and belongs to Iowa DOC First District. Sentenced prison custody uses the Iowa DOC locator, federal custody uses the BOP locator, immigration custody uses the ICE locator, and notification needs may fit IowaVINE. Each system answers a different question.