Execution isn’t the only way an inmate can die in a Georgia prison.

Some inmates commit suicide for reasons often only they know.

Some inmates are killed by other inmates in prison.

Some inmates die from old age or because of health reasons.

Some of the inmates who die are serving life sentences but many are serving lesser sentences for a variety of violent and non-violent crimes.

Still, the number of deaths that have occurred the past handful of years in Valdosta State Prison seems terribly high.

Two more deaths inside Valdosta State Prison occurred in the past few weeks.

Lance Lumpkin died June 30 while Quoesent Bostwick died the next day.

The Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed the deaths in a statement this week. Both deaths are being investigated as suspected homicides; no other information is being released at this time, according to the statement.

The Valdosta Daily Times learned of the deaths when a member of the public claiming to be an inmate’s parent reached out to the newspaper looking for information on the deaths. The Georgia Department of Corrections no longer automatically releases information about prison deaths. To get information about a prison death in Georgia, you have to know the death occurred.

In 2014, a report by the Southern Center for Human Rights cited Valdosta State Prison as tied for second place for the most homicides in a Georgia prison. The state prison system has been subject of a Department of Justice probe in more recent years.

Still, some people may quantify, anywhere people gather, there will be deaths. Even a conclave of saints will experience deaths … and given enough time and enough people, even violent deaths.

Homicide is as old as the first siblings, the biblical Cain and Abel.

Violent deaths happen. It’s part of the reason why societies have prisons.

So, in a gathering place of violent offenders, violent events shouldn’t be surprising.

But violence should not become the status quo in prisons either.

When violence does occur, the prison and the Department of Corrections need to be transparent about the results of investigations.

Family members should know what happened to their loved ones who have died in prison. Too often, prison staffs treat the families of inmates as criminals. Having a family member incarcerated for a crime is not a crime.

A family deserves answers when a loved one dies in prison.

So does the public.