For weeks, a stream of ads has attacked Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic candidate for governor, for allowing  access to tablets in the Milwaukee County Jail. In some high-profile cases, incarcerated people used the tablets to harass people on the outside. The ads, which recycle footage of a disgruntled local judge, have kept Crowley on the defensive while casting his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, as a protector of crime victims. 

The ads focus on individual cases of people using their jail-issued tablets to harass witnesses and victims. Many feature Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski, who asked,  “Why is the sheriff’s office handing laptops and iPads to defendants?” Borowski was presiding over a hearing involving Thomas Zollicofer, who is accused of killing three people in a spree. Zollicofer used his tablet to tell a witness to “stop lying,” WISN 12 News reported. Some of the ads also mention Ameir Jones, who is also accused of homicide and of attempting to call a victim in his case over 1,500 times, with prosecutors saying 300 of those calls were answered.

Over a short span of time, the anti-Crowley ads have made tablet access a big issue in the governor’s race. Late last week, Crowley suspended instant messaging on digital tablets at the Community Reintegration Center. The facility, formerly known as the House of Correction, is under more direct oversight by Crowley and the county board than the jail, which is overseen by the sheriff’s office. 

On Monday Brian Schimming, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, issued a press release accusing Crowley of protecting himself from a scandal. “This program should’ve never been allowed in the first place, and Crowley resisted ending it for months after victims were threatened and laws were broken,” said Schimming, going on to call Crowley “a craven politician who only cares about his own political future, not the safety of our state’s citizens.”

Milwaukee-based Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC), which supported Crowley when he re-entered the race for governor and won the primary race, expressed disappointment at the suspension of messaging services. “We have to be careful in giving in to the narrative of Republicans and their methods to make incarcerated people as uncomfortable as possible,” their statement warned. The group added that “this form of communication seems to be the best and safest form that there is currently.”

As the political controversy over tablets grew, the sheriff’s office attempted to clear the air. Joshua Briggs, director of the Milwaukee County Jail, said that the devices are not iPads but a “generic tablet.” Briggs explained that the tablets cannot be used to make calls out of the jail, and are not connected to the internet. The devices use a network maintained by the vendor, ICSolutions, which allows for keyword flagging and other guardrails. Briggs estimated that 98% of the people held in the jail use the tablets responsibly.

The ads don’t mention that Republican-dominated counties including Waukesha and Ozaukee also give people housed in their jails access to tablets. 

The tablets are important, advocates say, because they allow incarcerated people to maintain connections with loved ones and others on the outside. 

“I understand what it means to have a connection to home,” Marianne Oleson, co-executive director of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, told the Wisconsin Examiner. Oleson, who spent four years in prison before being released in 2017, explained that tablets give incarcerated people access to recovery resources, employment preparation, parenting classes, and other rehabilitative services. 

Tablet use  has become commonplace in jails and prisons. “This technology is being used on a significant scale,” Oleson said. “Edovo reports that its educational platform was available in 1,483 correctional institutions across 47 states in 2025, with participants completing 46 million hours of learning. Those are the provider’s reported numbers, but they show how much programming can be delivered through these tools.”

Shannon Ross, a founding member of Justice Forward, wrote in August in an op ed for Wisconsin Watch that tablet-type devices are used in 48 state prison systems, the federal prison system and in county jails nationwide. “Correctional officials have credited tablets with reducing violence and disturbances inside correctional facilities,” Ross wrote. “Some jurisdictions have reported declines of up to 40%, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons described the agency’s tablet program as reducing administrative burdens and allowing staff to focus more on institutional safety, not as a security risk it was forced to accept.”

“Providing tablets is an established practice today,” Oleson told the Examiner. “Wisconsin DOC says that each person residing in an adult facility will be issued an ICS tablet as its transition moves forward. Ozaukee County’s own website says that personal letters, pictures and drawings are delivered digitally through tablets available in all living units. This is happening across jurisdictions, regardless of politics.”

Other criminal justice advocates raised similar points about the use of tablets in jails and prisons. “Allowing tablets inside jail facilities is particularly important because it allows more in-depth communication with family and friends,” BLOC said in a statement to the Examiner. “Inmates can see messages and pictures from their families and loved ones. It enables them to maintain a closer connection than that of regular phone use. Sometimes, persons in custody need their families to advocate for them for their health, treatment and more that the jail staff cannot assist with immediately.”

Oleson was also disappointed by Crowley’s move. “My reaction to Crowley’s decision is concern for the people and families who are losing legitimate communication because of someone else’s misuse,” she wrote. “Victim harassment and witness intimidation are serious, and they must be addressed. We support holding people accountable for that behavior and holding facilities and vendors accountable for enforcing protections.”

Roy Rogers, a minister, board member of the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, and leader of the Onesimus Group of Milwaukee, wrote in a statement to the Examiner that electronic communication is one of the main ways his ministry can keep in touch with incarcerated people. “For us, a message is an opportunity to encourage someone, share our faith, or help them think through their next steps,” wrote Rogers. “For families, it means maintaining a connection with a parent, spouse, or child. We say ‘reentry begins with relationship’ because those connections need to grow before someone comes home.” 

Rogers said that he cares about the safety and security of victims. “No one should have to fear threats or harassment through this technology,” wrote Rogers. “My understanding is that Crowley’s action pauses messaging at the CRC until stronger safeguards are in place, rather than eliminating tablets altogether. My hope is that those protections allow safe communication to continue. These tools have a meaningful place in family connection, ministry, daily facility operations, and preparation for reentry.”

“If a suspension is necessary while those changes are made, there should be a clear timeline and an explanation of what must happen for access to resume,” wrote Oleson. “I am concerned when the needs of incarcerated people and their children become talking points in a political campaign. These decisions affect real families. They should be guided by evidence, safety, and what will help people return home successfully.”

 

Clarification: An earlier version of this story used the words “cancellation of jail tablets” in the headline to describe Crowley’s decision to disable the use of the messaging feature on jail tablets in Milwaukee. The article makes clear that it was the messaging feature, not the tablets themselves, that was suspended, so the headline has been updated to clarify that fact.

 

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On Aug. 28, Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski, during a hearing for a defendant charged with triple homicide, learned the defendant had used a county jail-issued tablet to discuss threatening witnesses. 

Borowski revoked the defendant’s tablet access and ordered him confined to his cell around the clock. The judge also pointed to two other recent instances in which tablets and laptops had been used in ways detrimental to personal and public safety.

“Why is the sheriff’s department handing laptops or iPads to defendants?” Borowski asked.

The comments soon went viral, picked up by candidates, public relations firms and political influencers. Few explained why tablets and laptops exist in correctional facilities, how common they are across the country or what actually happened in the security lapse. Instead, a nuanced issue was reduced to a single alarming anecdote.

The sheriff’s office would later note that it does not hand out iPads, but rather “pre-programmed devices with limited capabilities.”

Tablets have been used in jails and prisons nationally for well over a decade. They are now used in 48 state prison systems, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and numerous county jails throughout Wisconsin. They were introduced to help incarcerated people communicate with loved ones and access educational programming. Yes, the companies that provide them also profited from poor, disproportionately Black and brown families in the process. See Worth Rises for more information on this issue.

This is how the model works in Milwaukee County: Incarcerated users and their families pay the cost, not taxpayers. Over time, better vendors entered the market, prices dropped and some services became free. What has never changed is that these tablets do not provide internet access. They operate on a controlled intranet system. These cost and access dynamics are why tablets were requested in the first place.

Correctional officials have credited tablets with reducing violence and disturbances inside correctional facilities. Some jurisdictions have reported declines of up to 40%, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons described the agency’s tablet program as reducing administrative burdens and allowing staff to focus more on institutional safety, not as a security risk it was forced to accept.

This is not a partisan issue. Some of the nation’s most conservative states have rolled out tablets to every person in custody, regardless of charges or convictions. Sheriffs, who as a group tend to skew conservative, have widely approved their use because those who actually work with incarcerated people understand the benefits they provide.

Responding to the misuse of a few by eliminating a beneficial service for everyone mistakes the appearance of action for the work of actually solving the problem.

Tablets do not inherently create greater opportunities for witness intimidation. They simply create a more visible story when they happen to be the tool used. If tablets disappeared tomorrow, people could still call home, write letters or find other ways to intimidate witnesses.

We do not even know the full story of how this breach occurred. 

But tablet security features are more than capable of preventing situations like it. A more useful conversation would focus on identifying and closing the security gap that allowed it.

While I was incarcerated, I had access to a tablet during the final two years of my 17-year sentence. The growth, efficiency and preparation for the real world it gave me as a writer, student, researcher and future employee were light-years beyond what I achieved during the previous 15 years.

Most people do not realize that 90% to 95% of incarcerated people will eventually return home. The only question is who we want them to be when they do.

The nonprofit I founded while incarcerated, The Community, publishes rehabilitative videos, newsletters and podcast episodes that reach more than one million incarcerated people each month through these tablets. The positive feedback and outcomes have been considerable.

But what technology builds, fear can still take away.

I once tried to pay for the language-learning software Rosetta Stone so people inside could learn Spanish. Instead, all of the existing language tapes and CDs were removed because someone unfamiliar with the fact that they had been available for years worried that people might learn another language to plan something illegal.

That episode illustrates how easily a single anecdote — or even a hypothetical possibility — can define the entire conversation, producing a hammer where a screwdriver would do.

As a national advocate for criminal legal system reform, I have many concerns about tablets in jails and prisons, so I do not defend them uncritically. But many outlets covering this incident stopped at the sensational headline instead of doing the reporting the story required. Political candidates and influencers with their own agendas were then given free rein to use the incident as content.

Half a story, told quickly and left uncorrected, leaves the public further from understanding a system it pays dearly for every day.

Wisconsin deserves a justice system more worthy of that name. This episode demonstrates how far we remain from that goal — but also that we know exactly how to get there, if decision-makers take the problem seriously.

Shannon Ross is the founder of The Community and a founding member of the Justice Forward Wisconsin coalition, which prepares incarcerated people for healthier futures, creates opportunities for them and their loved ones and advocates for positive systems change for everyone impacted by the criminal legal system.

Editor’s note: This column was updated to correctly describe the facility where the defendant accused of using a tablet to intimidate witnesses was held.

Guest opinion: The debate over jail tablets is missing the point is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley gave final approval to a 2022 contract requested by the Sheriff’s Office and approved by the Board of Supervisors that provides communication tablets to county jail and House of Correction inmates.

Crowley, the Democratic candidate for governor, also approved a three-year extension in 2025.

According to the Sheriff’s Office:

Generally all inmates can access tablets, which can be used for text messages. People who want to message with inmates must create an account. 

The tablets cannot access the internet. They can access the contractor’s  “intranet,” which includes entertainment and educational material.

The goal is to help inmates “stay connected to family, loved ones, and legal and support services,” the county executive’s office said.

The tablets became an issue in the gubernatorial campaign after a judge Aug. 28 raised questions about their use for witness intimidation, victim harassment and child pornography access. 

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Milwaukee County Legislative Information Center: File 21-1004
• Milwaukee County Legislative Information Center: File 250222
• Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office: Email
• Milwaukee County Executive's Office: Email
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tiffany said he would block violent inmates from electronic devices

Did David Crowley approve providing tablets to jail inmates? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.