AGY-437 | Grafton Gaol (1862-1991) / Grafton Correctional Centre (1991-2012) / Grafton Intake and Transient Centre (2012-2020)

Full description

Tenders for the building of a Gaol at Grafton were published in the Government Gazette on 23 August 1860 and a tender was accepted for works to start on 23 October 1860. (1)

The Gaol was proclaimed open as a public Gaol, Prison and House of Correction under the name of the Gaol at Grafton on 17 April 1862. (2) Gaoler Thomas Allen and Matron Mary Allen were appointed 24 April 1862, by the Governor, with advice of the Executive Council upon the recommendation of the Sheriff to administer to the gaol. (3)

In Prisons Report for 1892, Controller-General of Prisons George Miller noted that: "A tender for the erection of the new gaol at Grafton was accepted in the month of June 1893, and work to be completed in two years. The contractor is proceeding rapidly with his work, and it is expected that the gaol will be ready for occupation before the end of this year. The present gaol is old, exposal to injury from floods, and of very inferior design, which renders it quite unsuitable for the detention of long sentenced or refractory prisoners, the means of repression being very defective." (4)

The number of prisoners in the Gaol varied between 11 and 27, although there was accommodation for 12 separate and 36 associated prisoners. The Gaol's population was predominantly male with a few female prisoners. Most of the prisoners were labourers or other unskilled and unemployed people, but there were some craftsmen and one prisoner was a writer. The sick prisoners were usually treated out of hospital and there were a few cases of death. (5)

The new Gaol was established by proclamation of the Governor Sir Robert William Duff from 8th of September 1893, with advice of the Executive Council. (6) In Prisons Report for 1893, Controller-General of Prisons George Miller wrote "The new gaol in Grafton, which was referred to in my previous reports, having been handed over by the contractors, was proclaimed on the 8th September last, and the prisoners were removed from the old to the new establishment on the 3rd November following. The new gaol is a fine structure, affording means for the proper treatment of prisoners, which could not be carried out in the old gaol."(7)

A short time after the Proclamation and establishment, the new Gaol in Grafton was handed over from the contractors and the prisoners were removed from the old Gaol on 3 November 1893. (8)

The new Grafton Gaol had accommodation was for 47 separated and 150 associated prisoners. The Gaol had commenced with 27 prisoners and the average daily number increased in the following decades and there were between 20 and 97 prisoners. Early in the Twentieth century Grafton Gaol was in category 'minor gaols' in NSW. (9)

By 1924 Grafton Gaol was a high security institution with buildings in good order and each officer was in charge of an average 3.4 prisoners. (10)

According to annual reports, after 1945, the prison was maximum security excepting the last a few years in the early 1990s when it became a medium security institution. Further analysis of the annual reports the Department of Prisons and Department of Corrective service shows that while initially most prisoners were unskilled people, later some were more skilled. Most worked in manufactures for the Gaol, in ordinary prison service and agriculture. During the time all aspects of the prisoner's life improved including accommodation, sport, entertainment and education. There was classification of the prisoners with aim to return them to society. Most of the prisoners were first time convicted, but some of them were multiple offenders and had been imprisoned four to 11 times. They were mostly between 16 and 45 years old and number of older was small, but later the average age increased on 55 years. (11)

Short term prisoners were the main group in custody with a few long sentenced, but after 1942 this Gaol was opened for 'intractable' prisoners. The investigation of Royal Commission into the Grafton Gaol during 1976 revealed that all 'intractable' prisoners from gaols throughout NSW confined in this maximum-security Gaol had suffered severe punishment. (12)

Further proclamations occurred on 1 February 1956, and 24 February 1988. The previous proclamations were replaced by proclamation from 28 June 1989 which altered the boundaries of the prison. (13)

In last two years, before changing its function in 1992, the number of prisoners had increased to 188. (14)

The Grafton Gaol was abolished by proclamation from 18th of December 1991. In a following proclamation on the same date, the Gaol was re-established as a prison under the Prisons Act, 1952 (Act No.9, 1952) as Grafton Correctional Centre and a Grafton Periodic Detention Centre. (15)

At the revocation Grafton Female and Male Periodic Detention Centres on 20 June 2003 all buildings and premises were provided back to Grafton Correctional Centre. (16)

Due to an unprecedented drop in the inmate population the Grafton Correctional Centre was downsized and transformed into an intake and transient facility called the Grafton Intake and Transient Centre in June 2012. (17) An intake and transient centre managed newly arrested or charged inmates as well as those who have been refused bail and facing court.

In September 2019 it was announced the state's smallest correctional centres would be retired and on 5 August 2020 Grafton Intake and Transient Centre formally closed. (18)

Endnotes
l.  NSW Government Gazette No.155, 24 August 1860, p.1581; NSW Government Gazette No.196, 26 October 1860, p.2058.
2. NSW Government Gazette No.71, 17 April 1862, p.760.
3. Blue Book, 1862, p.20; NSW Government Gazette No.74, 25 April 1862, p.799.
4. Annual Reports, Vol.3, 1892/93, p.772.
5. Prisons Reports 1877-1892/93, Annual Reports, 1878-1893.
6. NSW Government Gazette No.648, 15 September 1893, p.7275.
7. Annual Reports, Vol.3, 1894, p.1103.
8. Prisons Report for 1893, Annual Report, Vol.3, 1894, p.1103.
9. Map NSW Gaols, Annual Report, Vol.2, 1900, p.819.
10. Prisons Report for 1924, Annual Report, Vol.1, 1925, p.33.
11. Report of Royal Commission into NSW Prisons to Parliament of NSW 1976-77-78, pp.109-119.
12. Ibid.
13. NSW Government Gazette No.17, 17 February 1956, p.420; NSW Government Gazette No.41, 26 February 1988, p.1155; NSW Government Gazette No.81, 30 June 1989, p.3901.
14. Prisons Reports and Reports of the Department of Corrective Services 1893-1975, Annual Reports, 1878-1992.
15. NSW Government Gazette No.180, 20 December 1991, pp.10557-10559.
16. NSW Government Gazette No.101, 20 June 2003, pp.5841-5842.
17. Department of Attorney General and Justice, Annual Report 2012-2013, p.310.
18. Corrective Services NSW website, CSNSW History, https://correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au/csnsw-home/about-us/csnsw-history.html (accessed 10 February 2023).