Two inmates died within days of one another at the same Rikers Island jail — the first in a bizarre incident where the man’s head was caught in a handcuff slot, and the other in an apparent suicide, the Daily News has learned.

The first inmate, Tomas Carlo, 47, died March 2 and was found with his head stuck in the cuff port — a small metal door built into a larger jailhouse door where inmates slide their hands through so that correction officers can securely shackle them, sources said.

Carlo was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was put on life support, sources said. He was compassionately released from Correction Department custody before he was later pronounced dead.

Agency officials are still investigating the circumstances behind his death, sources said.

A second inmate, Javier Velasco, was found Friday in his cell with a linen wrapped around his neck just after 5 a.m. in an apparent suicide, according to an internal incident report obtained by The News.

Medics were called at 5:15 a.m., and arrived within five minutes. The inmate was pronounced dead just after 6:10 a.m.

Both individuals were being held at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island.

Carlo — whose name has several variations, court and jail records show — was charged in the Bronx with assault for striking a medical staffer at Lincoln Hospital multiple times, leaving the victim with a permanent eye injury.

Velasco was in Rikers for endangering the welfare of a child, criminal contempt, aggravated harassment, and menacing, court records show.

News of the incidents comes in the wake of two accidental releases from the troubled jail complex. Accused murderer Christopher Buggs was sprung March 9 after a jail screw up — and just days later, a similar court clerk error put alleged attempted murderer Nikim Meekins on the streets. Meekins has since turned himself in, while Buggs remains missing.