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June 27, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 7:57pm

Journalism student gets front page splash

By Press Gazette

A third-year journalism student at the University of Sheffield ended up with a front page splash in the Yorkshire Evening Post following her investigation into the items confiscated from inmates at Wakefield prison.

Hannah Postles, 21, used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal the items inmates had smuggled into the prison were hardcore pornographic DVDs, mobile phones and collection of newspaper cuttings about prison staff.

Postles’s article began as an assignment for a module on investigative journalism. She contacted the Leeds-based Evening Post news desk got reaction from the prison governor, the Home Office and local MPs.

Hannah, 21, said: "When I took the information to the news desk I didn't think in a million years it would make the front page splash. It was really exciting to see the information from my request develop into a real news story and even more exciting to see the finished story and my byline on the front page the next day.

"I asked for the information after a man on a train told me his brother who was in prison had smuggled a mobile phone into his cell. I sent one request asking for specific information about mobile phones which I submitted for the investigative journalism module, but also thought it would be interesting to see what other things prisoners tried to smuggle into their cells.

"I picked Wakefield because of its high-profile inmates, I hadn't even thought about the fact I'd be doing work experience in Leeds a couple months later."

Postles story was not only used as a splash in the Post but was picked up by the national press.

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