The Community Rehabilitation Centre (PPP) programme has benefited 89 percent of the prisoners under supervision (ODS) since its inception in 2011.

Prisons director-general Zulkifli Omar said the success was the outcome of training and skills taught to the ODS or convicts being rehabilitated in fertigation activities, pineapple cultivation, poultry and catfish breeding as well as community support.

"Every 12 ODS will be supervised by a prison warden during that period of at least three years before they are released to start a new life," he told reporters after the visit of delegates attending the International Conference for Blue Ocean Strategy (ICBOS) to Syed Sirajuddin Camp PPP in Gemas today.

Also present was Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS) chief executive Lt-Gen Azizan Md Delin.

The PPP programme is one of the government initiatives under the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) and is a collaboration between the Prisons Department and the Malaysian Armed Forces.

"The crops and livestock are marketed through a joint venture between the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI)," he said.

This programme is a continuation of the convicts' rehabilitation programme in prison aimed to provide early exposure to them before being released to lead a new life as useful citizens.

During the visit, delegates from Zimbabwe, Nepal, Namibia, Bangladesh, Senegal and Ukraine had the opportunity to see at first hand the success of the NBOS initiative.

- Bernama