Two inmates died in Arkansas prisons on Sunday, officials said.

Shortly before 3 a.m. security staff at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern found Joseph Hixon unresponsive in his cell with a noose around his neck, according to a news release by Solomon Graves, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Security and medical staff performed emergency treatment, but Hixon was later pronounced dead, the release states.

At approximately 11 p.m., staff at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys received word that Rusty Draper needed medical attention. Officials transported Draper to the unit infirmary, where his condition "continued to deteriorate" before he was pronounced dead just before midnight, Graves said.

According to Graves, the Arkansas State Police is investigating the two deaths, and the Department of Correction will conduct an internal investigation.

Bill Sadler, spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, said the agency cannot make any determinations on the men’s causes of death until the medical examiner reviews the cases.

Hixon was serving a three-year sentence for a charge of failure to appear, and Draper was serving a life sentence on a first-degree murder charge.