Two suicides at the new Edmonton Remand Centre, open since April, may be a sign of staffing issues at the facility, some correctional officers believe.

CBC News has learned that staff found an inmate hanging in his cell from a bed sheet at around 1 a.m. Monday. The unidentified prisoner had penned three suicide notes, and had written on his shirt, "I am not a number."

Another inmate had taken his life in June.

The old remand centre saw no suicides in the five years leading up to its closure this spring, leading the union representing guards to suggest there is not enough staff at the larger centre.

"Perhaps the ability to control or watch the workplace may be diminished as a consequence of being such a large facility and being spread out pretty thin," said Dennis Malayko, with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

Some staff are responsible for watching up to 72 inmates at a time, he said.

An internal review is underway.