CUSTODY suites at three police stations in Essex will be revamped to make them safer for prisoners.

Almost £1 million is set to be invested by Essex Police on improvement works at Colchester, Clacton and Harlow police stations - the force’s oldest and most high risk custody suites.

An inspection last year by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found the three cell areas in the stations had a large number of risks.

In response Essex’s police, fire and crime commissioner Roger Hirst allocated £643,000 of capital investment and £261,000 in one-off revenue costs to make the improvements.

To carry out the work all three stations will have to be closed.

The Colchester custody facility is planned to be closed in April and will re-open in early June. During this time those arrested in the borough will be taken to Clacton.

The Harlow custody suite will close in early June and will reopen in late July and during that time people arrested in Harlow will be taken to the facility at Grays.

In late July Clacton custody will close for works and will reopen in early September. Those arrested will be taken to Colchester.

Glenn Caton, Essex Police’s Head of Criminal Justice Command, said: “We are committed to ensuring our custody provision continues to meet the necessary and rigorous safety standards required.

“These works are extremely important to ensure they continue to do that.

"We are carrying out the works at separate times to ensure we have more than enough cells across the county to cater for our detainees.

“These temporary closures will not impact our ability or will to carry out arrests and we will continue to do just that.”

Essex Police has seven custody suites in Basildon, Chelmsford, Clacton, Colchester, Grays, Harlow and Southend with a 123 cell capacity.

An independent investigation was launched after a man had three finger tips severed in the Colchester cells in 2015.

It is alleged he was holding onto the toilet bowl while up to six officers tried to restrain him. Three finger tips on his left hand were cut off and left on the floor.

The investigation finished in 2017 but a report has not yet been published.