“Offenders are burning part of the section of the maximum correctional centre in Groenpunt,” Grace Molatedi, regional deputy commissioner for prisons in the Free State province, told AFP.

She could not immediately give details of any injuries or damage to the facility. The numbers of inmates at the centre was also not readily available.

In November, police rescued a prison doctor who had been held hostage for 20 hours by two inmates at the privately operated Mangaung maximum security prison near Bloemfontein.

The doctor was freed unharmed some 20 hours later. The nurse was let go much earlier into the drama.