Cause a commotion in lift, one in prison (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
raise cain
'cause a commotion' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lift one in prison' is the wordplay.
'lift' becomes 'raise' ('raise' can be a synonym of 'lift'**).
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'prison' becomes 'can' (the can is American slang for prison).
'i' inserted into 'can' is 'cain'.
'raise'+'cain'='RAISE CAIN'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for raise cain that I've seen before include "Protest heatedly" , "create problem" , "Create a commotion" , "cause trouble" , "Cause a noisy disturbance" .)