Correctional Services was failing to heed a protest by prisoners claiming that the 26 Boeremag awaiting trial prisoners were receiving preferential treatment, the SA Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights said on Friday.

About 15 black awaiting trial detainees were believed to have embarked on a hunger strike on 31 August because the Boeremag detainees were being "treated differently", Sapohr said in a statement.

Sapohr president Golden Miles Bhudu said the department had denied that prisoners at C-Max were on a hunger strike.

He said the hunger strike was triggered by an SMS from "a reliable contact" in the department informing Sapohr that: "C-Max is like a luxury hotel for Boeremag guys. [They] have TVs, DVDs, laptops, a desktop computer in their cell. Their courtyards in C-section have a garden full of trees, flowers, green grass and roses. They get opened in the morning from 7.30am to 3pm on a daily basis, when they are not going to court."

It continued: "All of these things, blacks are not allowed to have them."

Sapohr urged the department to "get out of their denialist mode" and acknowledge in public the failing of correctional services which they spoke about in private.

SABC news reported on Friday that a group of 26 prisoners lodged a complaint with correctional services about the way in which Boeremag detainees were being treated.

They were reportedly planning to go to the Human Rights Commission, following the centre head's failure to resolve their complaint.

Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela could not be reached for comment.

Sapa