An investigation by The Northern Echo has revealed that scores of weapons and illegal drugs have been confiscated from inmates at two north-east prisons.
Concerns were raised about security at the jails after it emerged that home-made knives, heroin, pornography, mobile phones and computer games consoles were found hidden in cells over the past year.
The Echo obtained lists of items confiscated from convicts at HMP Durham and Frankland after reporter Neil MacFarlane submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Prison Service.
The weapons found included razor blades, home-made knives, sharpened toothbrushes, sharp pieces of metal and broken toilet brushes.

Archant’s business development director Ian Davies told the Ifra Conference Beyond the Printed Word exactly how local life was for the readers of its 80 papers. A survey found that the greatest distance people travelled for tasks such as going to the cinema, buying a car, and going to a fitness centre or restaurant was 13.5 miles.
It was this revelation that prompted the company to begin mapping its jobs and house adverts with geo-specific filters so that purchases could be chosen by locality.

A poppy appeal video made by Gloucestershire Newspaper, The Forester, has been adopted by the Gloucestershire Royal British Legion as a recruitment aid.
The video created by The Forester’s internet video news service FTV was used by the British Legion during a county school tour to promote the importance of the poppy appeal and Remembrance Sunday.

The Grimsby Evening Telegraph has seen a welcome increase in the numbers visiting their website.
In October, 279,770 people visited thisisgrimbsy.co.uk, a 3.76 per cent rise compared to September, and more than 3m page views were recorded.

Conservative leader David Cameron is backing the Burton Mail’s Save Our Post Office campaign.
In an exclusive interview with the Burton Mail he said the campaign to help save South Derbyshire Post offices in Egginton, Newton Solney and Church Gresley was “extremely worthwhile”.