Search Halawa Correctional Facility Inmates

Halawa Facility Overview

DCR's official Halawa Correctional Facility page places the prison in Aiea and describes a two-part state prison, not a Honolulu County jail. Halawa includes the Halawa Special Needs Facility and the Halawa Medium Security Facility. The special-needs side opened in 1962 as the City and County of Honolulu's Halawa Jail and moved to state control in 1977. DCR says it houses maximum and closed custody inmates, people with severe or chronic mental illness who cannot be placed in general population, and inmates who need protective custody.

The medium-security side opened in 1987 and is described by DCR as the newest and largest prison facility in Hawaii. It houses male sentenced felons. That distinction matters for any Honolulu County inmate search because Halawa records are part of the state DCR system. HPD arrest logs may show a recent arrest event, and OCCC may hold a person before trial, but a person at Halawa is searched through Hawaii SAVIN/VINELink and DCR facility calls.

The official Halawa page is the best visual source for the facility. The screenshot below comes from the DCR Halawa facility page and shows the public prison overview, address, and contact context used for this page.

Use that source for facility-level facts, then use the statewide locator and the Halawa phone lines when the question is about a specific person in custody.

Halawa Inmate Population

DCR's March 31, 2026 End of Month Population Report separates Halawa into the Special Needs Facility and the Medium Security Facility. The report lists the Special Needs Facility at design capacity 90 and operational capacity 132, with zero head count and zero assigned count. The research notes that this aligns with the Halawa visitation material stating HSNF was closed for renovation. The Medium Security Facility is the active high-count line: design capacity 496, operational capacity 992, head count 826, and assigned count 833.

DCR also reports that overcrowding has led to about 1,400 male Halawa inmates being housed at one contracted facility in Arizona. That does not mean each person sentenced in Honolulu County is physically in Aiea. A DCR custody search may point to Halawa, a mainland branch placement, OCCC, Waiawa, WCCC, or another state facility depending on custody level and placement.

Lookup Halawa DCR Custody

For Halawa Correctional Facility inmate lookup, use Hawaii SAVIN/VINELink person search. DCR's Hawaii SAVIN page says the service provides free, anonymous, confidential access to custody and parole status for offenders under DCR jurisdiction. Registration is available through VINELink.com, the phone line at 1-877-846-3444, the VINELink mobile app, or TTY 1-866-847-1298. DCR also warns users not to rely only on SAVIN for personal safety decisions.

1. Open the Hawaii person-search path in VINELink and select the Hawaii custody search.
2. Search by the person's name or by an identifying number if one is known.
3. Confirm whether the record points to Halawa Correctional Facility, another DCR facility, parole, or a mainland placement.
4. Call Halawa if the public locator does not answer a facility placement, visitation, mail, or custody-status question.

Readers often start with a recent Honolulu arrest. That can be useful, but it is not the same record set. A person can be released, taken to court, moved to OCCC, sentenced later, or transferred to a DCR prison after classification. For broader local custody context, the Honolulu County inmate records page explains how OCCC, HPD arrest logs, eCourt Kokua, federal custody, and DCR custody fit together.

Halawa Address and Contact

Use the official DCR numbers for Halawa Correctional Facility questions. The main public page gives one main number and a visitation hotline, while the SAVIN facility-phone list gives a custody contact number. Because visitation, housing, and operational status can change, call before travel or before sending time-sensitive mail.

Halawa Visitation Rules

Halawa visitation is documented separately from OCCC's daily jail schedule. The Halawa schedule linked by DCR was updated October 17, 2024. It says HCF visitation occurs on weekends only, with only one module visiting on a given Saturday or Sunday. The first half runs from 0700 to 1000, then a lunch break runs from 1000 to 1100, and the second half runs from 1100 to 1400.

Schedules are posted in housing units, the lobby, visit areas, and entrance areas. The research also notes that HSNF was listed as closed for renovation. For that reason, a Halawa visit plan should start with the inmate's current module and the visitation hotline. A locator result alone does not prove that a visit can be held on a given weekend.

Halawa Mail and Money

The Halawa page links DCR COR 15.02 for mail and COR 15.05 for inmate access to publications. The research did not identify a separate Halawa-only mail format beyond the DCR policy references, so do not invent a special envelope format. DCR's public notices for Halawa also identify GTL for inmate calls and tablets, and GTL/ViaPath Connect Network for electronic trust deposits. No deposit fee was located in the official research material.

Halawa Programs and History

Halawa's local history is unusual because part of the prison began as a city and county jail before state transfer. Today its role is prison-level custody for male sentenced felons, with separate special-needs and medium-security functions. DCR says Halawa offers education classes, substance-abuse treatment, sex-offender treatment, in-facility workline positions, and Correctional Industries work opportunities.

Recent DCR material adds a reentry detail. A July 17, 2025 DCR release says Halawa hosted a resource fair for more than 100 inmates and more than 50 vendors. The vendors covered job readiness, housing, shelter, substance-abuse treatment, family support, education, health care, and other services. That program note belongs to Halawa rather than to OCCC or Waiawa because it reflects a prison-level reentry event for Halawa inmates.