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United States · Iowa · Council Bluffs
Pottawattamie County Jail
County jailMaximummixedUnder capacity (76%)LowHigh
Verified
Fresh · 14d ago
Sources last reviewed on
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Pottawattamie County Jail
Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Smallbones via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Photo by Robert Thall via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Pottawattamie County Jail is a county jail located in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Rated capacity: 288. Reported population: 219. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
Background
The Pottawattamie County Jail, also known as 'Squirrel Cage Jail' in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States was built in 1885 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The building is one of three extant âsquirrel cage jails,â also known as rotary jails. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2023.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
288
Current population
219
Occupancy
76%
Year opened
—
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 7 Jul 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Population held
mixed
Opened
—
Region
Iowa
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
0/100
Low concern0/100
- Overcrowding
- 0/30
- Oversight reports
- 0/30
- Structural flags
- 0/15
- Death signals
- 0/15
- Conditions text
- 0/10
This facility scores 0. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 2 points below national average.
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Beaufort County Detention CenterWashingtonMaximumCounty jail222% occupancy
- Abbeville County Detention CenterAbbevilleMaximumCounty jail200% occupancy
- Southwest Virginia Regional Jail - TazewellTazewellMaximumCounty jail330% occupancy
- Franklin County Detention FacilitySt. AlbansMaximumCounty jail660% occupancy
- Spartanburg County Main JailSpartanburgMaximumCounty jail152% occupancy
- Anderson County Detention CenterAndersonMaximumCounty jail183% occupancy
Compared to other facilities in United States
7436 peersOccupancythis: 76% · peers avg: 93% (18%)
Capacity (beds)this: 288 · peers avg: 547 (47%)
Data completeness
74%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries
- HIFLD dataset query
- List of immigrant detention sites in the United States — Wikipedia
- Pottawattamie County Jail
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries — US Department of Homeland Security â HIFLD Open Data
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- USGS National Map structures — U.S. Geological Survey
- List of immigrant detention sites in the United States — Wikipedia — Wikipedia / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Wikidata (Q7235209)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
APA
World Prisons. (2026). Pottawattamie County Jail. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/pottawattamie-county-jail
Chicago
"Pottawattamie County Jail." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/pottawattamie-county-jail.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-pottawattamie-county-jail,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Pottawattamie County Jail},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/pottawattamie-county-jail},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}