At least five inmates have died in a brutal prison fight between gang members in Guatemala.

Emergency services said the prisoners at the Pavoncito prison, in the town of Fraijanes some 70 km south of the capital, mutilated and decapitated rivals, putting a head on a stick in a gruesome sight that could be seen from outside the prison.

Other heads lay on the ground inside the compound.

The rioting began when prisoners were transferred to the Pavoncito jail on Friday from another jail.

"This is a dispute between prisoners belonging to different gangs, who bring their conflicts with them when they are locked up," said Rudy Esquivel, the prison spokesman.

Police and prison authorities were trying to regain control of the jail, which houses more than 900 prisoners convicted mostly of drug trafficking, murder and robbery.

Uprisings in overcrowded Central American prisons are frequent.

In May, prisoners in the Chimaltenango jail in Guatemala decapitated a senior prison official during a riot which began after two women were caught trying to smuggle drugs into the jail.

Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in Latin America and thousands of people are killed in common crime each year.

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