PRISON guards are calling for Borallon prison to be reopened as overcrowding in the state-of-the-art jail near Gatton forced inmates to sleep in recreational areas on makeshift beds.

Prison guards raised the issue as they entered day two of their 48-hour strike, in an ongoing pay dispute with prison operator Serco.

Union officials reported the prisoners had slept on trundle beds for 12 months following the Darling Downs Correctional Centre closure last year.

United Voice Queensland Prisons Co-ordinator Michael Clifford said Borallon prison should be recommissioned to accommodate the prisoners without a cell.

The Costello Audit found Borallon prison should be recommissioned at a cost of $250 million if prisoner numbers continued to grow.

But a spokesman for Community Safety Minister Jack Dempsey said reopening Borallon would not be considered until the Keelty Report into duplication of emergency services was handed down in July. The spokesman said a prison's population changed on a daily basis.

Gatton's Southern Queensland Correctional Centre has 300 cells and a capacity for 350 prisoners.

It has 333 inmates and was opened last year.

Mr Clifford said prison guards had to tiptoe between prisoners in the dark as they conducted head counts during the night.

"When you get people sleeping on the floor then there needs to be a better solution ... whether that's reopening Borallon or redistributing prisoners," he said. There are concerns about staffing levels, with day shifts down by six guards from the 30 on a day shift, who often were not replaced.

Serco was contacted for comment but had not replied before The QT deadline.