ACT Policing is investigating following the death of a 38-year-old Indigenous man at the Alexander Maconochie Centre on Monday.
That follows the death of a 73-year-old Aboriginal man, who was on remand when he died in hospital last Wednesday, February 13.
Staff at the centre called for emergency services in the early hours of Monday morning in response to a medical episode the 38-year-old man was suffering, the Australian Federal Police said in a statement.
Despite 'significant efforts' from staff and paramedics, he died at the scene.
The 73-year-old had been unwell and receiving medical care since being remanded to the Alexander Maconochie Centre earlier this year, ACT Corrective Services said in a statement.
Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT chief executive Karly Warner said the impacts of the men's deaths will be felt not only by their immediate families, but also throughout their communities.
“The ACT Government must do more to address its shameful over-imprisonment of Aboriginal people,” she said.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners increased by 31 per cent (32) to 134 over the past financial year.
“We know that police and courts are the gateway to prison, and that Aboriginal people face worse outcomes at every stage of the criminal process," Ms Warner said.
"To meet its obligations under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the ACT Government must take urgent action to address the real drivers of mass incarceration – over-policing and over-criminalisation – and invest in evidence-based, community-led solutions and the priorities they have agreed in the National Justice Policy Partnership.”
Both matters have been referred to the territory's coroner.
