Hilo Jail Roster Search
The Hilo jail roster is the best place to start when someone is booked on the east side of Hawaii Island. Hilo sits in Hawaii County, and all bookings in the area flow through the Hawaii Community Correctional Center on Punahele Street or the East Hawaii Detention Center at the South Hilo Police Station. To search the Hilo jail roster, you can call the facility, use VINELink for custody status, or request records from the Hilo police station. Names of pretrial holds, short sentence inmates, and new arrests often show up there first.
Hilo Overview
Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo
The Hawaii Community Correctional Center, known as HCCC, is the main stop on the Hilo jail roster. The facility sits at 60 Punahele Street, Hilo, HI 96720. HCCC holds adult men and women from across Hawaii Island. Most are waiting for trial. Some serve short jail terms. Staff book, screen, and house each new arrest at HCCC before the case moves through the Third Circuit Court.
The main phone is (808) 933-0400. The fax is (808) 933-0425. HCCC is run by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, not the county. That split matters. County police make the arrests, but the state runs the beds. If you call to ask whether a name is on the Hilo jail roster, you are calling state staff who work inside a county-named city. The address is county. The control is state.
HCCC serves as the primary detention center for the entire Big Island. That means a booking in Kona, Hamakua, or Puna may still end up on the Hilo jail roster after transfer. The facility handles intake, classification, and short custody. Longer sentenced men and women often move off-island to other facilities, but their initial Hilo jail roster entry stays in the HCCC record.
For visitation, money deposits, and mail rules, check the official HCCC page on the DCR site.
The screenshot above is the DCR page for HCCC. It has the current visitation steps, the mail rules, and the phone list tied to the Hilo jail roster intake.
| Facility | Hawaii Community Correctional Center (HCCC) |
|---|---|
| Address |
60 Punahele Street Hilo, HI 96720 |
| Main Phone | (808) 933-0400 |
| Fax | (808) 933-0425 |
South Hilo Police Station and Detention Center
The South Hilo Police Station is at 349 Kapiolani Street, Hilo, HI 96720. The main phone is (808) 935-3311. This station houses the East Hawaii Detention Center. That detention center took its first booking on July 8, 2003. It opened at the Hualalai Street entrance of the station. Anyone arrested on the east side of the island often goes here first before moving to HCCC.
The East Hawaii Detention Center has 20 individual cells. The list includes an observation cell, a padded cell, and two holding cells used for quick-turn bookings. The rest are short-stay cells used while officers finish paperwork and the person is either cited out, bonded out, or held for transfer. Every one of those short stays can show on the early Hilo jail roster.
The Hawaii Police Department covers the whole island from Hilo. District divisions, police reports, and inmate info flow out of the South Hilo Police Station. The department's inmate information page explains what the county releases about current arrests.
The HPD homepage above links to district numbers and to the inmate page, which feeds part of the Hilo jail roster flow.
Note: East Hawaii Detention Center cells are short-stay. A person may book there but move to HCCC on the Hilo jail roster within hours.
How to Search Hilo Jail Roster
There are a few fast ways to check the Hilo jail roster. Each path shows a different slice of custody data.
Use VINELink first. VINE pulls statewide custody status for Hawaii. Type the name or offender ID and the tool returns the current facility and hold status. You can also sign up for alerts, so when the person moves off the Hilo jail roster you get a ping. It is free. No account is needed to search.
Second, call HCCC at (808) 933-0400. Staff can confirm whether a named person is in custody. If the person was just picked up and not yet moved from the East Hawaii Detention Center, call the South Hilo Police Station at (808) 935-3311.
Third, request a record from the Hawaii Police Department. The inmate information page spells out what the county posts.
The HPD inmate page above tells you what the county shares about a new booking before it hits the full Hilo jail roster.
To get a good match, have the following ready:
- Full name of the person
- Date of birth
- Approximate arrest date
Hilo Station Records Section
The Records Section at the Hilo police station handles police report requests tied to the Hilo jail roster. The phone is (808) 961-2233. Hours run Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The office is closed on state and federal holidays. You can request arrest reports, incident reports, and collision reports.
Fees are low but strict. The first page is $1. Each page after that costs 10 cents. Cash only. The department does not take cards or checks at this counter. Large requests may take a few days. For some booking records, the county may redact parts that fall under non-conviction protections.
The police report request page above walks through each step for pulling a paper copy of a Hilo jail roster case.
The police report request page has the full list of what the county will release. Closed cases are easier to pull. Pending cases may be withheld. Juvenile records are sealed.
Community Policing Mini-Stations
Hilo has a set of community policing mini-stations that support patrol and minor report intake. These do not hold inmates and do not keep part of the Hilo jail roster, but they can help route a report or give you the right phone number. Officers cycle through them during shifts.
The mini-station sites in the Hilo area include:
- Moheau Bus Terminal
- Clem Akina Park
- Holomua Street
- Waiakea-Uka Gym
- Richardson Ocean Park
None of these post a Hilo jail roster, but they are a first point of contact for minor issues. For any custody question, go back to HCCC or the South Hilo Police Station.
Third Circuit Court and Inmate Information
Every Hilo jail roster name lands in the Third Circuit Court. The Hawaii State Judiciary runs eCourt Kokua for case lookups by name, case number, or party. The East Hawaii court line is (808) 961-2213. Initial appearances typically happen fast, and the case number tied to a booking comes from the Third Circuit clerk.
If the person bonds out or is released on their own recognizance, they leave the Hilo jail roster quickly. If held, the roster entry continues as the case moves through arraignment and trial. For an official criminal history summary, the state points people to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, which runs name-based and fingerprint-based background checks.
Note: Court case status and the Hilo jail roster are separate data sets. A name can show in court records after the person has already been released.
Kulani Correctional Facility Nearby
Kulani Correctional Facility is outside Hilo on the slopes of Mauna Loa. The mailing address is HC-01 Box 4670, Hilo, HI 96720. The main phone is (808) 969-9166. Kulani is a minimum-security men's facility. It does not do intake. Men there have already been sentenced and are close to release.
Kulani is not part of the daily Hilo jail roster. It holds people who have already cleared HCCC and court. For questions about a Kulani inmate, check the official facility page. Family and friends can find visitation hours and mail rules there.
The Kulani page above has the current rules for mail and visits tied to men who moved off the active Hilo jail roster.
Federal arrests on Hawaii Island do not go on the Hilo jail roster. Those cases move to a federal facility, often through Honolulu. Use the BOP inmate locator for anyone booked federally since 1982.
Hilo Jail Roster Laws
The legal base of the Hilo jail roster comes from a few main sources. Under HRS Chapter 353, the state has the duty to keep records on every person in custody. That is the statute that makes HCCC responsible for the book-in data used in a Hilo jail roster search.
The Uniform Information Practices Act, HRS Chapter 92F, controls what the public can access. The Office of Information Practices runs the UIPA rules. That agency decides what can be released, what is withheld, and when a record falls under non-conviction protections. The Hawaii Police Department follows those rules when it posts or withholds Hilo jail roster data.
Non-conviction data is treated more carefully than conviction data. A pure arrest with no guilty plea and no verdict may be pulled from the public side of the Hilo jail roster once the case closes. That is why some old names vanish from a basic search but still exist in the state record.
Hawaii County Resources
Hilo is the county seat of Hawaii County. For island-wide info on jail rosters, facility contacts, and court records, visit the county page.
Nearby Cities
Hilo is the only city on Hawaii Island with a page on this site. No other Big Island community hits the population threshold. For comparison with jail rosters in other Hawaii cities, see the pages below. Each one is on a different island and feeds a different community correctional center.