Dozens of relatives of inmates have picketed a prison in the Kazakh city of Pavlodar, demanding to see their loved ones in the second such incident in the Central Asian nation this month.
Relatives told RFE/RL that riot police forces had been brought to AP-162/4 penal colony in the northern city early in the morning on September 15 to quash the inmates' protest.
An official at AP-162/4 declined to confirm or deny the relatives' statement, saying that a commission was working in the penitentiary.
A similar situation was reported earlier this month at a prison in the southern town of Zarechnoye, where relatives said police quashed a protest by inmates.
Prisoners in Kazakhstan have rioted frequently in recent years to protest conditions, often maiming themselves to draw attention to their plight.