The Directorate of Prison Administration and Social Assistance (DAPAS) is under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights. There are 10 prisons in the penitentiary system, located in the capital towns of the six former departments, that now number 12. The penitentiary system is divided into jails and civilian prisons:

• the jails are attached to each district? local? court . They receive persons in preventive detention and persons sentenced to less than five years of imprisonment.

• Civilian prisons accommodate persons sentenced to more than five years of imprisonment.

The prison of Akpro-Missérété is destined to receive mainly people already condemned and / or considered violent and / or dangerous in the other prisons.