The inmates were apparently unhappy over shifting of a prisoner and three undertrials to Kapurthala jail from Hoshiarpur district jail, according to police sources.
As prisoner Sandeep Singh and undertrials Ravi Shankar, Narinder Singh and Avtar Singh were being shifted, the other inmates started pelting bricks on prison staff.
They also vandalised the office of the DSP and and set ablaze a video conferencing room in the jail complex. To quell the violent prisoners, jail staff fired in the air, they said.
There was no report of casualties.