The overnight siege at Hobart's Risdon Prison is over, but a prisoners' advocate says there's likely to be more unrest.
Prisoners ambushed a female guard and took over an accommodation block for 24 hours before they were subdued with capsicum gas just before dawn.
The prisoners surrendered and were decontaminated before being moved to another area of the prison.
Greg Barnes, a legal adviser to the Prison Action Reform Group, says unless long-running grievances related to overcrowding, rehabilitation and access to exercise are addressed, further unrest is likely.
"The conditions are Dickensian and there was a siege in Risdon prison last May. There are a series of issues that prisoners wanted addressed including a more humane and conciliatory approach towards by senior prison management that appears not to have happened and that's why we've had another outburst."