Orange County Detention Center Overview
The Orange County Detention Center is at 1200 US 70 West in Hillsborough. It opened in April 2022 as a 48,900-square-foot jail on the Northern Orange Campus. OCSO lists 144-person capacity and says the building is open 24 hours a day. The Magistrate's Office is inside the Detention Center, which connects initial bond and first custody processing to the same building where booking occurs.
The operator is the Orange County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood. OCSO's detention division says the facility serves state pretrial detention, federal pretrial detention through the U.S. Marshals Service, the State Misdemeanor Confinement Program, and probation violation custody. It is not a state prison, even though some state-serving detainees can be held there for local custody purposes.
The OCSO Detention Services division page describes the local custody categories served by the jail.
That custody mix explains why the jail roster may include local pretrial, state-serving, probation, and federal pretrial entries in one report.
Orange County Detention Center Population
The March 23, 2026 OCSO Jail Dashboard reported a daily jail population grand total of 93. The facility's rated capacity is 144 people, so the dashboard snapshot was below rated capacity on that date. The same dashboard listed 77 pretrial detainees, 7 federal detainees, 9 state-serving detainees, 0 writ population, and 0 juveniles under 18. These are point-in-time figures, not a permanent daily average.
Lookup Orange County Detention Center Inmates
Use the OCSO Current Detainees page for Orange County Detention Center custody. The inspected page used a dynamic area and a downloadable Daily In Custody Report PDF rather than a simple form. Search inside the PDF by name, then read the booking number, charge lines, agency, judicial status, docket, bond amount, court date, booked date, and days in custody.
- Open the OCSO Current Detainees page.
- Download the Daily In Custody Report if the page does not show a readable list.
- Search the PDF for the person's last name and confirm the booking number.
- Use the docket number in eCourts Portal if the question is court status after arrest.
- Call (919) 245-2940 if the person may be newly booked, released, transferred, or held under another name.
Orange County Detention Center Contact
The jail and the sheriff's main office are different public buildings. Visitors, records callers, and family members should use the Detention Center address for jail custody, visitation, and detainee communication questions.
Orange County Detention Center
1200 US 70 West
Hillsborough, NC 27278
(919) 245-2940
Open 24 hours a day
Orange County Sheriff's Office
106 E. Margaret Lane
Hillsborough, NC 27278
(919) 245-2900
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Visit Orange County Detention Center
OCSO offers in-person and virtual visitation through HomeWav. The free 30-minute virtual option is scheduled through HomeWav but takes place on terminals at the Detention Center. Remote video on a personal device is paid. In-person visits depend on the detainee's weekly visitor list, the visitor form, advance approval, and photo identification.
| Visit Type | Schedule or Cost | Key Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Free terminal video visit | 30 minutes; weekday scheduling windows 8:00-11:00 a.m. or 1:00-4:00 p.m. | Visitor travels to the Detention Center terminal. |
| Remote HomeWav visit | $0.30 per minute | Personal device or tablet. |
| Video message | $0.60 for up to one minute | OCSO published message cost. |
| In-person visit | Schedule not fully published in inspected text | Weekly list, form approval, and photo ID required. |
Mail, Phone, and Money
Orange County Detention Center personal mail is scanned and delivered electronically. Personal mail goes to a Greensboro processing address with Facility ID Number 5150, not to the jail's physical address. Books and magazines must be shipped by vendors to the physical jail address. OCSO bans money, official/original documents, 3D or musical cards, glitter, glue, tape, explicit content, and physical packages in ordinary mail.
| Service | Provider or Address | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Personal mail | Resident name, Orange County Detention Center, Facility ID 5150, PO Box 18247, Greensboro, NC 27419 | Scanned and delivered electronically. |
| Books and magazines | Physical jail address by vendor shipment | Use vendors such as Amazon. |
| Deposits | Inmate Canteen or lobby kiosk | Detention staff do not accept money. |
| Phone and text | Paytel | No incoming calls accepted; detainee sends first text. |
Bond and Holds at Orange County Detention Center
The Detention Center roster can show several bond and hold signals on one person. SECU indicates secured bond, UNSE indicates unsecured bond, NOBD indicates no bond on that charge or hold, and INCL can mean a charge is included with another bond line. HOLD, probation, writ, and federal entries can also affect release. Call the jail before travel because a PDF roster is a snapshot and a person's release status can change quickly after court, transport, or booking review.
Booking at Orange County Detention Center
Booking can follow a street arrest, warrant, order for arrest, probation violation, writ, federal hold, or other custody authority. The roster includes agencies such as OCSO, Hillsborough Police, Chapel Hill Police, Carrboro Police, UNC Police, State Highway Patrol, probation/parole, and other agencies. The booking number begins the report trail that can later connect to bond, court, and custody status.
- Booking
- The jail intake step that creates the custody entry and booking number.
- Magistrate
- A North Carolina judicial official who may handle initial process and bond decisions.
- Detainer or hold
- Another agency or legal matter that can block release even when one bond is met.
- Pretrial
- Custody before the case has been finally resolved or sentenced.
About Orange County Detention Center
The Detention Center replaced the older jail capacity baseline described in OCSO's 2019 Lowdown column. OCSO says the current building was built to better serve safety, security, and human-service needs for people in custody. The detention operation includes transport work for jail-to-jail transfers, jail-to-prison transfers, medical appointments, and some involuntary-commitment transport from UNC Hospitals to care facilities statewide.
The jail connects to several service systems: HomeWav visitation, Paytel phone and texting, Inmate Canteen deposits, scanned mail, and public PDF reports. The Orange County Sheriff NC app is also an official OCSO channel for alerts, tips, service requests, and broad detention-center interface, but research did not confirm an app-only roster or mugshot search.
Note: Call the Detention Center before visiting, sending money, or relying on a roster snapshot for release status.