Cedar County Jail Overview
Cedar County Jail is housed in the Cedar County Law Enforcement Center and is operated by the Cedar County Sheriff's Office. It is the only active detention facility located for the Cedar County facility map. The sheriff's office publishes the current inmate roster, visitation rules, commissary deposit information, inmate phone and chirping details, and the local records-request instructions. No separate city jail, county work-release annex, regional jail, Iowa DOC prison, BOP prison, or ICE detention facility was found in official sources for Cedar County.
The jail is a county-jail facility, not a state prison. It holds local custody tied to criminal charges, warrants, mittimus commitments, and short jail sentences as reflected in the public roster categories. Sheriff Warren Wethington, Chief Deputy Kevin Knoche, and Jail Administrator Bode Koranda are listed by the sheriff page. Cedar County Sheriff's Office is also described as chief law enforcement for Bennett, Clarence, Durant, Lowden, Mechanicsville, Stanwood, Tipton, West Branch, and Wilton.
Cedar County Jail Population
County-published live bed capacity was not located on the sheriff site. The best located county-level jail capacity and population figures come from Vera Incarceration Trends data. Vera listed Cedar County rated capacity as 47 and jail population or average daily population as 12 for 2023. The official roster snapshot inspected on June 13, 2026 showed 11 current inmates, with 10 male and 1 female. Those figures should not be read as a live capacity report from the county.
Cedar County is a small jail-population county, so a change of a few people can make the daily roster look much different from a yearly average. Vera's 2023 table also listed 150.25 admissions, six pretrial inmates, six sentenced inmates, and a sex breakdown of 10 male and two female in the county data. The live roster does not publish race, ethnicity, housing units, charge class, or a pretrial-versus-sentenced split.
Search Cedar County Jail Roster
The correct local lookup source for this facility is the Cedar County Jail inmate roster. It lists current inmates only in the public page inspected. The visible roster has one Search by Inmate Name field and does not post a released-inmate list, booking-number search, mugshot gallery, detailed charge profile, housing field, court date, or arresting-agency field. For a deeper breakdown of roster fields, see the Cedar County jail inmate records page.
- Open the official Cedar County inmate roster from the sheriff's website.
- Use the name field. Try the last name first, then a first name or shorter spelling if needed.
- Read the visible fields: booked date, name, age, sex, booked reason, and bond when listed.
- Call 563-886-2121 if the person is not listed, was just arrested, or may have transferred.
- Use Iowa DOC, BOP, ICE, Iowa Courts Online, or VINELink when the issue is state custody, federal custody, immigration detention, formal charges, or notification.
The roster screenshot source shows the current-inmate list and name-search format used for Cedar County Jail.
The roster is useful for confirming current jail custody, but it should be paired with jail phone confirmation or court records when timing, bond, or case status matters.
Cedar County Jail Contact
Use the main jail line for current custody, release, transfer, visit, and account questions. Use the records office process for copies of accident or incident reports and other public-records requests. The sheriff page says the Law Enforcement Center is at the south end of Tipton, with the local direction cue to turn east at Liberty Trust Bank on South Street and continue behind CDS.
Cedar County Jail
711 E. South St
Tipton, IA 52772
563-886-2121
Fax: 563-886-2095
Operator: Cedar County Sheriff's Office
The Cedar County Sheriff's Office source page lists the Law Enforcement Center contact details and sheriff staff.
That contact source is the proper local reference when the roster does not answer a time-sensitive custody or visiting question.
Cedar County Jail Visitation
Cedar County Jail allows two general visits per week on Wednesday and Sunday when the inmate is not under disciplinary sanction. General visits are separate from privileged, service, and clergy visits. The jail does not allow contact visits. A general visit lasts 30 minutes if visitors arrive on time, and the inmate may have two visitors over age 18 during that period. Inmates are responsible for telling family and friends their visit time and any change caused by unit or bunk movement.
Visitors must complete a registration form before each visit and show valid state photo ID with full name and date of birth. No one under age 18 may visit; minors must remain in the lobby out of sight of the visiting area with an adult. Anyone incarcerated at Cedar County Jail within 30 days of the visiting day may not visit. Personal items are not allowed in the visiting area, and electronic device use can terminate a visit.
| Visit Type | Days | Length | Visitor Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General visit | Wednesday and Sunday | 30 minutes | Two visitors over 18 | No contact visits; inmate must not be under disciplinary sanction. |
| Privileged, service, clergy | Not posted | Not posted | Not posted | Excluded from the two-general-visit rule; confirm with jail staff. |
| Attorney or legal | Not posted | Not posted | Not posted | No separate Cedar County legal-visit schedule was found in the located source. |
The Cedar County visitation source also includes deposit vendors, phone information, and VINELink access.
The same source ties visit eligibility, visitor identification, account deposits, inmate phones, and notification tools into one sheriff-published page.
Cedar County Jail Money
Cedar County publishes commissary and communication options, but not a detailed inmate mail policy in the located jail pages. Use the jail address and call before mailing anything that could be rejected. Do not infer postcard-only, scan-and-destroy, book-vendor, or third-party mail rules without a Cedar County source. Money deposits are inmate-account deposits, not bond payments unless the court or jail gives separate bond instructions.
| Service | Provider or Detail | Fee or Limit Note |
|---|---|---|
| Lobby kiosk | Sheriff's Office lobby at 711 E. South St | Cash or credit cards accepted; transaction fee applies. |
| Phone deposit | 1-866-345-1884 | Cedar County did not post the vendor fee amount. |
| Online deposit | AccessCorrections.com | Account setup may be needed. |
| Online deposit | SmartDeposit.com | Account setup may be needed. |
| Phones and chirping | Combined Public Communication / InmateSales, 877-398-7700 | Listed for inmate phones and text messaging. |
| Victim notification | VINELink Iowa | Notification channel, not a full booking record. |
Cedar County Jail Records
The Cedar County sheriff records page is the local route for accident and incident report requests. Requests may be made in person or by mail. Paper accident or incident reports cost $5, paid by cash or check to the Cedar County Sheriff. After request and payment, copies can be mailed, emailed, or faxed. Accident reports are available in five to seven business days after an incident, according to the sheriff records page.
For jail-related information not shown on the public roster, a request should identify the person, approximate date, and record sought. Iowa Code chapter 22 gives the general right to inspect or copy public records unless another law makes a record confidential. Certain law-enforcement and privacy exemptions may apply. Cedar County did not post a separate booking-photo fee, booking-record form, housing-unit list, or public jail annual report in the located sources.
| Records Item | Cedar County Detail |
|---|---|
| Records hours | Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Report request methods | In person or by mail. |
| Paper report fee | $5 for accident or incident reports. |
| Payment | Cash or check payable to Cedar County Sheriff. |
| Accident-report timing | Five to seven business days after an incident. |
Cedar County Jail Standards
A Cedar County Board of Supervisors minute entry dated April 8, 2025 states that Iowa DOC Jail Inspector Delbert Longley reported the Cedar County Jail was in compliance with Chapter 50 Iowa Jail Standards. A full Cedar County jail inspection PDF with housing-unit details, cell blocks, or an official county-published live bed count was not located. Iowa Code section 356.36 authorizes jail standards, and Iowa Administrative Code chapter 201-50 governs jail facilities standards, inspections, records, medical intake forms, and related procedures.
Recent local board materials also mention jail nursing. A February 17, 2026 Board of Supervisors minute entry and a March 13, 2026 Board of Health minute entry discuss the possibility of Cedar County Public Health contracting with the jail for nursing staff. The March 2026 discussion notes that the jail currently contracted out nursing services. No recent Cedar County jail consent decree, DOJ investigation, death-in-custody litigation, overcrowding order, or new jail construction plan was located in the high-authority sources reviewed.
Note: Inspection and nursing notes describe located public minutes; they do not replace current jail policy or medical instructions.
Cedar County Jail Intake
Cedar County does not publish a step-by-step booking manual in the located sheriff pages. The intake path should be understood through the local materials that are published: the current roster, records channel, visitation rules, money deposits, and phone vendor. A person may be booked after a new criminal charge, warrant, mittimus, or sentence. The public roster may later show booked date, name, age, sex, booked reason, and bond if listed.
After booking, bond or hold status can change through court action. The Cedar County roster may show a bond amount, but it does not show bond type, per-charge bond, detainers, court orders, or release eligibility. Court charges and case status move through Iowa Courts Online and Cedar County court channels. If a person receives a state prison sentence, the long-term lookup moves to Iowa DOC rather than the county roster.
Cedar County Jail History
The active Cedar County Jail replaced the historic Cedar County Sheriff's Residence and Jail at 118 W. 4th St in Tipton. National Register material states that the old jail served as the county's main correctional facility from 1892 until prisoners moved to the new Cedar County Law Enforcement Center in March 2001. The older jail had a 10-prisoner capacity and was described as a rare residence-and-jail model where the sheriff lived next to the jail.
The ISSDA Old Cedar County Jail Museum source documents the historic jail site now tied to museum use.
The history is useful context only. Active custody, visits, deposits, records requests, and roster lookup all run through the current Cedar County Jail at the Law Enforcement Center.
Cedar County Custody Fallbacks
Cedar County Jail is the local facility, but not every Cedar County-related custody record stays there. State-prison and community-supervision records belong in Iowa DOC Offender Search. Federal sentenced custody belongs in the BOP locator. Immigration detention belongs in ICE ODLS. Formal criminal cases, prosecutor-filed charges, dispositions, fines, and public docket entries belong in Iowa Courts Online or the clerk's office. VINELink can help with status notification, but it does not replace the roster or an official records request.
Broader Cedar County inmate population context can help separate local jail custody from state and federal systems. For this facility, the key rule is simple: use the county roster for current Cedar County Jail custody, then move to the custody system that matches the person's case status when the roster is silent or incomplete.