The Berkeley County Inmate Population
Berkeley County's local jail population is housed at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center, 300 California Avenue in Moncks Corner. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office operates that jail for people arrested by sheriff's deputies, municipal police departments, state highway patrol agencies, and supervision agencies that book into the county facility. The public inmate lookup captured on June 29, 2026 showed 393 males and 56 females, for a visible current total of 449 people in Hill-Finklea custody.
The broader Berkeley County inmate population picture also includes a state prison physically located in the Ridgeville area. MacDougall Correctional Institution is operated by the South Carolina Department of Corrections, not by Berkeley County. SCDC's June 28, 2026 population report listed MacDougall at 693 capacity and 676 physical count, or 97.5 percent occupied. That prison count is useful context, but it is not the same as the county jail roster.
This official page is the county source for detention center phone numbers, release processing notes, video visitation, property release, and other jail service rules that affect people trying to verify a roster result.
Berkeley County Inmate Population Statistics
The most precise local jail figure in the research is the visible roster total from the Berkeley County Sheriff inmate lookup on June 29, 2026. No official Hill-Finklea rated capacity or average daily population was located in the county sources reviewed, so those items should be treated as unavailable rather than estimated. The Sheriff's 2024 annual report supplies operating-volume figures, including 5,682 arrests, 2,394 transports, and 450 inmates transported.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Date |
|---|---|---|
| Hill-Finklea roster males | 393 | Berkeley County Sheriff inmate lookup, captured June 29, 2026 |
| Hill-Finklea roster females | 56 | Berkeley County Sheriff inmate lookup, captured June 29, 2026 |
| Hill-Finklea visible total | 449 | Berkeley County Sheriff inmate lookup, June 29, 2026 |
| Hill-Finklea rated capacity | Not located in official sources | Sheriff detention page and annual reports reviewed |
| BCSO arrests | 5,682 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office 2024 Annual Report |
| BCSO transports | 2,394 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office 2024 Annual Report |
| Inmates transported by BCSO | 450 | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office 2024 Annual Report |
| MacDougall capacity | 693 | SCDC population counts and capacities, June 28, 2026 |
| MacDougall physical count | 676 | SCDC population counts and capacities, June 28, 2026 |
| Berkeley County population estimate | 274,666 | U.S. Census QuickFacts, July 1, 2025 estimate |
| Approximate visible county jail custody rate | 163.5 per 100,000 residents | Calculated from 449 roster count and 274,666 Census estimate |
Berkeley County Resident Population Context
No official five-year jail average daily population trend was found in the inspected sources. The resident population trend is still important because Berkeley County is growing quickly. A 449-person visible jail count has a different meaning in a county of 274,666 residents than it would in a smaller county. FRED/Census annual data showed Berkeley County increasing from 236,898 residents in 2021 to 274,666 in 2025.
| Year | Resident Population | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 236,898 | FRED/Census annual series |
| 2022 | 245,656 | FRED/Census annual series |
| 2023 | 256,711 | FRED/Census annual series |
| 2024 | 265,992 | FRED/Census annual series |
| 2025 | 274,666 | FRED/Census and Census QuickFacts estimate |
Who Makes Up the Berkeley County Inmate Population
The only official demographic split located for the live Hill-Finklea roster was sex. On June 29, 2026, the visible total was 393 males and 56 females. That equals about 87.5 percent male and 12.5 percent female within the public count captured that day. No official public breakdown was found for age, race or ethnicity, pretrial status, sentence status, felony versus misdemeanor mix, average length of stay, or hold type.
Definition: A visible roster total is a public lookup snapshot. It is not the same thing as rated jail capacity, average daily population, annual bookings, or the number of people admitted during a year.
The arresting-agency filter gives a local operational clue. Hill-Finklea receives people from the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, Berkeley Highway Patrol, Bonneau Police Department, Charleston Police Department, Goose Creek Police Department, Hanahan Police Department, Moncks Corner Police Department, North Charleston Police Department, South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, South Carolina Highway Patrol, St. Stephen Police Department, and Summerville Police Department.
Berkeley County Jail Capacity and Occupancy
Hill-Finklea's rated bed capacity was not located in official county sources. Because of that gap, the 449-person roster count cannot be converted into a reliable county jail occupancy percentage. The correct comparison is limited: the official roster shows the visible current count, while the Sheriff's detention page and annual reports reviewed did not publish a bed count or average daily population table.
MacDougall is different. SCDC published both capacity and physical count for that state prison on June 28, 2026. The report listed 576 general-housing capacity with 564 physical count, 21 restrictive-housing capacity with 17 physical count, 96 program capacity with 95 physical count, and 693 total capacity with 676 physical count. Those figures describe a state prison in Berkeley County, not the county jail.
Laws Governing the Berkeley County Inmate Population
South Carolina law explains why jail-identification records can be public while still leaving room for redactions. The Freedom of Information Act defines public records broadly, gives inspection and copying rights, and includes a specific provision for documents identifying people confined in a jail, detention center, or prison for the preceding three months. Other statutes cover bond hearings, inspections, death-in-custody reporting, and publication of booking photographs.
Key Statutes:
S.C. Code Section 30-4-30 - Gives public inspection and copying rights and includes documents identifying persons confined in jails, detention centers, or prisons for the preceding three months.
S.C. Code Section 30-4-40 - Allows or requires exemptions and redactions for certain law-enforcement, privacy, safety, juvenile, victim, and otherwise closed records.
S.C. Code Section 22-5-510 - Sets bond-hearing rules, including the general 24-hour hearing rule for bailable offenses and release timing after bond delivery.
S.C. Code Sections 24-9-20, 24-9-35, and 24-9-50 - Cover annual jail and prison inspections, death reports, and local detention reporting to SCDC.
S.C. Code Section 17-1-60 - Regulates arrest and booking record publication, including booking photographs and fee-based removal practices.
Berkeley County and the State Prison Population
The South Carolina Department of Corrections incarcerated inmate search is the correct lookup for sentenced state prisoners. SCDC is separate from the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, and its inmate numbers, institutions, release information, and public profiles do not replace the Hill-Finklea roster. The SCDC disclaimer says the search and the toll-free inmate information line at 1-866-727-2846 are public services and that data discrepancies can be reported to Ombudsman@doc.sc.gov.
MacDougall Correctional Institution is the local state-prison example. SCDC lists MacDougall at 1516 Old Gilliard Road in Ridgeville, opened in 1966, with Medium and Minimum custody for male inmates. A person arrested in Berkeley County usually appears in the county jail first, then appears in SCDC only after sentencing and state-prison admission. VINELink can provide custody notifications, but it is not a complete jail roster or court-record index.
How to Search the Berkeley County Inmate Population
Start with the official Berkeley County Sheriff's inmate lookup when the person may be in Hill-Finklea custody. The roster is the central public search for current county jail inmates. It accepts a name, charge text, arresting agency, and arrest date range, and the official indexed text says partial searches are allowed.
- Open the Sheriff's inmate lookup page rather than a commercial jail directory.
- Search by last name first. Add a first name or partial first name only if the result set is too broad.
- Use the charge search or arresting-agency dropdown when the arresting department is known.
- Check booking date, current charges, arresting agency, bond amount if shown, and release status clues on the result.
- If the person is not found and the arrest was recent, call Booking at 843-719-4876 or the 24-hour main line at 843-719-4546.
- If the person has been sentenced to state prison, search SCDC instead of the county roster.
Current Berkeley County Inmate Lookup Fields
The roster fields are useful because they match how Berkeley County receives people from multiple agencies. A partial name search can help when spelling is uncertain. The arresting-agency dropdown matters when the person was arrested in Goose Creek, Hanahan, Moncks Corner, North Charleston, St. Stephen, Summerville, or by a state agency but booked into the county jail.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Please enter name to search for | Text | Unspecified | Partial searches are allowed; use legal name spelling where possible. |
| Search Charges | Text | Optional or unspecified | Search by charge wording; exact wildcard behavior was not published. |
| Arresting Agency | Dropdown | Optional | Includes county, municipal, highway patrol, and probation/parole agencies listed in the roster. |
| Date Range of Arrest | Date or date range | Optional or unspecified | The official page labels the field, but exact date format was not exposed in indexed text. |
Past and Released Inmate Records
The Hill-Finklea roster is best for current custody. No official source in the research published how long released people remain visible online. Absence from the web roster should not be treated as proof that the person was never booked, has been released, or has been transferred. Recent arrest questions can go to Hill-Finklea Booking at 843-719-4876, the 24-hour main line at 843-719-4546, or Records at 843-719-4557.
Older jail records may require the Berkeley County FOIA portal. The county FOIA page says requests must be submitted through the online portal and that email or fax submission was discontinued on August 1, 2020. Incident reports can also be requested in person through the Sheriff's Records Management Office at 223 N. Live Oak Drive, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except county holidays.
What a Berkeley County Inmate Record Shows
A county jail profile is a custody record, not a final court judgment. The official app notice says the Berkeley inmate lookup can show inmate ID number, booking date, current charges, and a booking photo. Public roster snippets also indicate that bond amount can appear, although the exact profile format should be checked in the live roster when precision matters.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Person in current Berkeley County jail custody or matching the search criteria. |
| Inmate ID Number | Local jail identifier confirmed in the official app notice. |
| Booking Date | Date the person was booked into Hill-Finklea. |
| Booking Photo | Booking image from intake, not proof of conviction. |
| Current Charges | Charges attached to the jail booking; formal court charges may later differ. |
| Arresting Agency | The agency that made the arrest and brought or routed the person to jail. |
| Bond Amount | May appear as a release clue; court records are better for formal bond orders. |
| Release Status | Release processing is separate, and Hill-Finklea says release can take 1 to 4 hours after documentation is received. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The Berkeley County inmate population is split across systems by custody type. Hill-Finklea handles local detention after arrest and local jail custody. SCDC handles sentenced state prisoners. BOP handles sentenced federal prisoners, and ICE handles immigration detention. A person can move from one system to another, so the right search depends on the current legal status.
| Custody Type | Who Runs It | Where to Look | Berkeley County Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| County jail | Berkeley County Sheriff's Office | Sheriff inmate lookup | Hill-Finklea Detention Center |
| State prison | South Carolina Department of Corrections | SCDC incarcerated inmate search | MacDougall Correctional Institution |
| Federal sentenced custody | Federal Bureau of Prisons | BOP inmate locator | No BOP prison found inside Berkeley County |
| Immigration detention | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | ICE Online Detainee Locator System | No ICE detention center found inside Berkeley County |
| Custody notification | South Carolina VINE | VINELink South Carolina | Notification tool, not a full roster |
State and Federal Inmate Search
SCDC's search fields include SCDC ID, SID, first name, and last name, with indexed search results limited to 250 inmates. The SCDC released inmate list uses release date ranges, county, and an optional sex-offender checkbox. These tools are useful for sentenced or released state-prison records, not for a new Berkeley County arrest.
The BOP inmate locator searches federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present and warns that release dates may change as sentences are reviewed or recalculated. The ICE locator searches people currently in ICE custody or in CBP custody for more than 48 hours, using name, country of birth, birth date, or an A-number. U.S. Marshals custody may be relevant for federal pretrial defendants who are not yet in BOP.
Berkeley County Detention Facilities
The facility map contains two Berkeley County custody locations, but they serve different populations. The county jail is the local booking and detention site. The state prison is an SCDC institution for sentenced prisoners.
- Hill-Finklea Detention Center - County jail at 300 California Avenue, Moncks Corner, operated by the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office for local detention, pretrial custody, and locally sentenced jail custody.
- MacDougall Correctional Institution - SCDC state prison at 1516 Old Gilliard Road, Ridgeville, for sentenced South Carolina prisoners, not ordinary new county arrestees.
Berkeley County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Berkeley County inmate population?
The public Hill-Finklea roster count captured on June 29, 2026 showed 449 visible county jail inmates: 393 males and 56 females. MacDougall Correctional Institution, a separate SCDC state prison in Ridgeville, had 676 physical count against 693 capacity on June 28, 2026.
How do I search the Berkeley County inmate population?
Use the Berkeley County Sheriff's inmate lookup for current Hill-Finklea custody. Search by name, charge, arresting agency, or arrest date range. If the arrest was very recent or no result appears, call Booking at 843-719-4876 or the 24-hour main line at 843-719-4546.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
The research did not locate an official online retention period for released Hill-Finklea records. Use Hill-Finklea Records at 843-719-4557 for jail-record guidance and the Berkeley County FOIA portal for formal public-record requests. For released state prisoners, use SCDC's released inmate list.