Only three years after it closed nearly all of the grim, old, heritage-listed Grafton jail in the centre of town, the NSW government is planning a huge, privately operated state-of-the art correctional facility on a 195-hectare site near Grafton Airport.

Infrastructure NSW, on behalf of the NSW Department of Justice, has called for expressions of interest for consortiums to design, construct, operate and maintain the new Grafton Correctional Centre, with an emphasis on rehabilitation.