Red Onion State Prison improves inmate video education system

A new network-based distribution system is improving access to educational materials for inmates of Red Onion State Prison in Pound, VA.

Installed and integrated by York Telecom, AVX-Change, and Realm Control, the new Canopus MediaEdge2 system accesses prerecorded MPEG-I, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 course material on Red Onion's media server, which is running MediaEdge-WS2 videocasting software. It then distributes the video on Red Onion's CATV system to TVs within the prison.

The new system is a quantum leap over Red Onion's original videotape system. Managed by the state's...