Valdosta State Prison is in a brutal three-way tie for having the second most homicides in Georgia’s state prisons, according to a new report by the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Since 2010, 34 inmates have been killed in Georgia’s prisons. Valdosta State Prison accounts for four of those homicides.

Smith State Prison had the most homicides — seven — among Georgia prisons between 2010 and 2014, according to the center’s report.

In that same period, Valdosta State Prison, Telfair State Prison and Hays State Prison tied for second place with four homicides each.

The center has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the state’s prison system, which the center contends is unable to protect its employees or inmates, according to a weekend report in The Augusta Chronicle, which initiated a look at the report following a recent inmate death in Augusta State Medical Prison.

The report, “The Crisis of Violence in Georgia’s Prisons,” lists prison homicides and other violent incidents within the state penitentiary system.

“The center contends that many cell locks in prisons throughout the state are broken and have been for years,” according to the Augusta article. “The report cites prison audits since 2008 that found cell locks could be easily opened. An audit in 2012 found nearly half of the 442 locks examined could be opened without a key. In February 2013, the Corrections Department finally obtained a contract for new locks at Hays State Prison after four inmates were killed in seven weeks.”

As The Valdosta Daily Times reported in past articles, the center report details 12 inmates hospitalized after a series of attacks at Valdosta State Prison during a period of three days in July 2012, including one “violent confrontation” between rival gangs that sent nine men to the hospital.

After one of the July 2012 incidents at Valdosta State Prison, nine “shanks,” or homemade knives, were found in a common area of a dorm after two men were injured and hospitalized, the center’s report says.

The Southern Center for Human Rights reports four inmates have died of homicide at Valdosta State Prison since 2010.

• Demarquis Cainion. Died: Sept. 16, 2013. Cainion died from a stab wound to the neck.

• Darryl Christmas. Died: Nov. 27, 2012.

Shortly after new arrivals entered dorm E1, an officer saw Christmas fall and several prisoners “stomp” him. Christmas had a stab wound to the chest. Eleven prisoners were allegedly involved.

• Estaban Pineda. Died: June 29, 2011.

Pineda was found with “five punctured wounds to the chest and two to the back.”

• John Arnett. Died: Jan. 21, 2010.

Arnett was found on the floor, deceased. He was “blue in the face and had something tied tightly around his neck.”