Prison record from the East covering start of action (4)
I believe the answer is:
gaol
'prison' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'record from the east covering start of action' is the wordplay.
'record' becomes 'log' (logging is a kind of recording).
'from the east' is a reversal indicator.
'covering' is an insertion indicator.
'start of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'action' is 'a'.
'log' written backwards gives 'gol'.
'gol' placed around 'a' is 'GAOL'.
(Other definitions for gaol that I've seen before include "Nick" , "Alternative to jail" , "The Ballad of Reading -- (Wilde)" , "Prison (British spelling)" , "See 1" .)