NSW inmates charged with attempted murder

Two inmates have been charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing another prisoner at a correctional centre on NSW's mid-north coast.

The two men, aged 50 and 28, allegedly approached the cell of a 26-year-old man at the Kempsey jail on Wednesday afternoon and stabbed him multiple times in the neck, chest and back.

The injured prisoner was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in a critical but stable condition, NSW Police said in a statement on Thursday.

The older man was charged with attempted murder and the younger man was charged with aid and abet attempted murder.

They were refused bail to appear at Port Macquarie Local Court via video link on Friday.