A fire broke out Tuesday in the Pozarevac prison where hundreds of inmates began a protest, demanding better conditions and partial amnesty, the Beta news agency reported.
Sources reported unspecified injuries in the fire, and a fire- fighting unit arrived at the scene, but remained in front of the main gate.
Beta's source said that around 100 ethnic Albanian prisoners were moved to different quarters within the complex.
The three Serbian co-ministers of justice, Zoran Nikolic, Sead Spahovic and Dragan Subasic, were on their way to Pozarevac. The ministry is jointly run by the Socialist Party of Serbia, Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).
Co-ministers already talkeD to mutineers in Sremska Mitrovica and Nis.
Inmates in Pozarevac began the latest of the three mutinies, with a lock-in of around 170 people and a hunger strike of the rest.
They said they would refuse food until they speak to co-ministers, but also one of top DOS leaders, Zoran Djindjic, a warden told Radio B2-92.
Around 1,000 inmates had taken over the Sremska Mitrovica prison late Sunday, while 500 in the Nis penitentiary took control over the prison grounds Monday night.
There were unconfirmed reports of gunshots in the prison and unspecified injuries.
A prison official said 500 out of a total of 1,200 prisoners took part in the protest, adding that 300 ethnic Albanians were located in a separate pavilion and were not included in the riot.
Radio B2-92 quoted the justice ministry as saying that protests had no nationalist component and that ethnic Albanian prisoners weren't targeted by violence in any of the riots.
It is believed that pressure for an amnesty of Albanians - taken from Kosovo by withdrawing Yugoslav security forces in June last year - might have spurred other inmates to demand partial amnesty.
Human rights activists warned that the majority of Albanians inmates are political prisoners - many, held under terrorism-related charges, are still awaiting trial, more than a year after they were arrested.
(dpa)