ANGOLA — Louisiana prison officials say initial media reports that 19 inmates being held at Angola for federal immigration officials were engaged in a hunger strike were incorrect, but said Monday that three of the people being held "continue to  refuse their meals."

The Department of Public Safety and Corrections also said that there were "no issues surrounding plumbing." It noted an inmate had intentionally flooded his cell Sunday, but said the problem was remedied by unclogging a pipe.

Various media had reported Saturday that, according to the National Immigration Project and the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition, a group of 19 inmates had refused to eat for four days. The prison system said that, at the time of the reports, there was no hunger strike.

The prison system said Monday that 17 detainees being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement had subsequently refused meals. The Department of Public Safety & Corrections said it was "false narratives in the media that put the idea in the detainees' heads."

ICE began detaining people at the Louisiana State Penitentiary this month after Gov. Jeff Landry issued an emergency order to rehabilitate the dilapidated Camp J. The ICE facility was initially dubbed Camp 47, a reference to President Donald Trump being the nation's 47th president, and also as Camp 57. Landry is Louisiana's 57th governor.

The site now goes by the term "Louisiana Lockup," an alliteration similar to Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz." 

The prison system also denied claims by the advocacy groups that the inmates were being denied routine toiletries such as toilet paper, toothbrushes and shampoo.