The Board of Prison Inspectors, an intervening supervisory level of prisons, was created in 1888 under the Minister of the Interior to "supervise the discipline and government" of the prisons. Act 3 of the 1890 Laws of Hawaii transferred overall responsibility for prisons to the Attorney General. However, the Board of Prison Inspectors remained under the Minister of the Interior. The command lines weren't explicitly changed until the Organic Act went into effect in 1900, and the Attorney General was given the "powers and duties of the Minister of the Interior over Prisons, Prisoners and Prison Inspectors."
By Act 41 of 1905, a Board of Prison Inspectors was created in each judicial circuit. Each board had the same duties and responsibilities within its circuit as the original board had had throughout Hawaii. Once again, the relationship of the boards both to the Attorney General and to the High Sheriff were not explicitly defined, but in practice, the High Sheriff reported to the board for the First Circuit, the county (deputy) sheriffs reported to the boards in the respective other circuits, and the boards reported to the Governor.
Act 125 of 1931 specifically designated the High Sheriff as the Warden of Oahu Prison. At the same time, Act 129 created the Board of Prisoner Directors, to supersede and assume the duties of the Board of Prison Inspectors of the First Judicial Circuit. In addition, the new board was to supervise the boards of the remaining circuits.
