A group of ten inmates were holding three prison employees captive at the high security section of the Managing Correctional Centre (MCC) outside Bloemfontein on Monday evening after setting their cells on fire.

G4S Care and Justice Service spokesperson Liana Goose said the incident started around 2pm on Monday.

"The fire was extinguished by the fire response team of MCC with the assistance of the city fire brigade," she said in a statement.

Goose said the inmates had since barricaded themselves inside the section with three employees.

"It can be confirmed that the employees are unharmed and that the incident response team are [sic] still attempting to resolve the situation."

She said the inmates were dissatisfied that they could not be transferred to a medium security correctional centre, due to their involvement in previous unrest situations at the prison.

"The family members of the employees were informed of the situation," said Goosen.