(CNN) The Justice Department is launching an investigation into the conditions of several Mississippi prisons following a series of inmate deaths, the agency announced Wednesday.

The department's Civil Rights Division will focus on the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, the South Mississippi Correctional Institution, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.

"The investigation will focus on whether the Mississippi Department of Corrections adequately protects prisoners from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners at the four prisons, as well as whether there is adequate suicide prevention, including adequate mental health care and appropriate use of isolation, at Parchman," the Justice Department said in a statement.

Nine inmates have died at Parchman in a little more than a month, most of which as a result of either violence or suicide. As of January 17, Parchman held 2,815 of the state's more than 19,000 prisoners.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections said it had no comment on the investigation.

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