Tiffany Attacks Crowley for Tablets Given to Jail Inmates

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany speaks at the Milwaukee Police Association Offices. Photo taken Sept. 8, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

During a law-and-order-focused campaign stop at the offices of the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany offered two different views when it came to getting tough on crime. On the one hand, he criticized Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley for his record on public safety issues and the use of tablets by inmates in the Milwaukee County Jail. On the other hand, Tiffany declined to take a position on President Donald Trump‘s decision to pardon and release federal prisoners convicted of the attack on the U.S. Capitol and Capitol police on Jan. 6, 2021.

The issue of jail tablets was raised during the past month after it was discovered that an inmate facing charges for a triple homicide used a jail tablet to attempt to intimidate witnesses in the case. Judge David Borowski, who is hearing the case, questioned why he was given access to a tablet in the first place.

Tiffany has seized on the issue to cast Crowley as soft on crime and during his campaign stop at the MPA, said, “David Crowley keeps looking for ways to make life easier for criminals. I believe our first responsibility is to protect victims’ families and the public.”

The congressman also slammed Crowley for votes during his time in the Legislature, saying he opposed tougher penalties for drunk drivers and intimidating domestic abuse victims. Crowley voted against a bill that would have allowed for permanent revocation of a driver’s license for repeat drunk drivers under certain conditions and another bill reclassifying the charge of intimidating a victim of domestic abuse as a felony. Under the previous state law that Crowley supported, such intimidation could only be charged as a felony if there were aggravating circumstances.

“This is David Crowley’s record,” Tiffany said. “Time and again, his policies put criminals ahead of victims.”

To push his campaign’s newest angle of attack, Tiffany pointed to recent cases where jail-provided tablets were allegedly used to intimidate witnesses and threaten police officers. In May, Amier H. Jones Jr. used a jail tablet to message a victim more than 1,500 times and threaten a police officer, stating he was on a “hit list,” as David Clarey reported. In August, Thomas Zollicoffer, facing three separate homicide charges, used a tablet to discuss threatening witnesses. In both cases, judges have since revoked the inmates’ use of tablets.

Tiffany argues that Crowley should have taken action to fix the problem and looked into the contract with the vendor to make sure it was not being violated. Tiffany also promised to ban tablets in state prisons for people convicted of violent crimes if he is elected governor. He would preserve access for nonviolent offenders, but they would have to purchase them, he said. The congressman further said he would look into restricting shared revenue for local government to make sure that this does not happen anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

But Crowley’s ability to affect policy inside the county jail is constrained by state law, which puts administration of the jail under the authority of Sheriff Denita Ball.

Since 2021, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and the House of Correction (HOC), overseen by the county executive, have provided tablets to inmates through a contract with the Texas-based firm ICSolutions. The tablets are not connected to outside networks, nor do they provide inmates the ability to browse the internet, according to the sheriff’s chief of staff, James Burnett. They are used for messaging, accessing legal services and preloaded entertainment options. The latter must be paid for.

Approximately 20,000 people cycle in and out of custody at the jail every year, Burnett said. The MCSO provides tablets to all inmates unless a court commissioner or a judge orders that they do not receive one.

In order to communicate with someone outside the jail, the recipient of a message must first agree to receive it, similar to a collect call, Burnett said. “I genuinely don’t know how contact first initiated between that inmate and the victim in that case,” Burnett said, referring to the Jones case and the more than 1,500 messages sent to a victim. 

Tiffany and his campaign have also said the tablets were used to access “child pornography.” Burnett said that is technologically impossible. The MCSO did once catch an inmate using a laptop provided to access case information to search for pornography, Burnett said. That individual was savvy enough to bypass a firewall maintained by the county’s IT services, and the issue has since been fixed, he said.

Sup. Justin Bielinski, chair of the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services, called the Tiffany campaign “very disingenuous” for using the issue in political attacks, noting that jail inmates do not have in-person visitation and the phone and tablet services are the only method for them to access their constitutionally-required communication with attorneys and family.

Tablet technology has been widely adopted in local and state corrections systems across the country. The Federal Bureau of Prisons under President Trump recently launched a tablet program in prisons across the country. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) launched a tablet program under former Gov. Scott Walker.

“Congressman Tom Tiffany is lying about David Crowley and conveniently omitting that he voted multiple times to fund the Dept. of Corrections, who administered this program that was started under Scott Walker,” said Phillip Shulman, a spokesperson for the Crowley campaign. “David is demanding full accountability from everyone involved here, demonstrating real leadership and proving why he is the only candidate who will keep Wisconsinites safe — unlike Congressman Tiffany, who has campaigned alongside creeps, voted to shield sex abusers in the Epstein files, and thinks violent January 6 rioters were ‘victims’ who deserve taxpayer-funded payouts.”

When asked by an Urban Milwaukee reporter about the Trump pardons for the January 6 rioters, Tiffany said he’d already made his position clear on this and he would discuss the issue with the reporter after the press conference. As a result his answer was not captured the TV news cameras covering the event. Here is what Tiffany said about the president pardoning the rioters:

“I didn’t take a position in regards to it. That’s something that is of the president’s authority. It’s the president’s authority to do that. I’ve always been tough on crime, and yes, those that beat up a law enforcement officer, that should have never happened, and they should be charged, and they should be held accountable. There’s no doubt about it.”

Among the Jan. 6 rioters who were pardoned or received a commutation by the president were more than 600 individuals charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. More than 100 Jan. 6 defendants also faced charges for using or carrying a dangerous weapon that day.

Tiffany has also expressed support for the president’s proposed “anti-weaponization fund” being used to give payments to some of the rioters, calling them victims. “I would want to take a look at what was the harm that was done to those victims. If it’s significant enough,” he said, “perhaps they should receive compensation.”