Tuesday, Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor, released a new television advertisement in which he places the blame on David Crowley, his Democratic opponent, for the Milwaukee County inmate tablet program after jail-issued tablets were used to contact a domestic-violence victim more than 1,500 times, to threaten a Milwaukee police officer, to intimidate witnesses in a triple-homicide case, and to access child pornography.
The 30-second spot, titled “Preposterous,” draws its name from Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski, who in August questioned why the Sheriff’s Office was giving tablets to defendants and described the practice as “preposterous”. “More than 1,500 attempts to contact a domestic violence victim. A police officer threatened. Witnesses in a triple-murder case intimidated. A judge revealing that another defendant accessed child pornography,” Tiffany said. “How many warning signs does David Crowley need before he takes responsibility?”
Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive and the Democratic candidate for governor, signed the contract between the county and Inmate Calling Solutions (ICSolutions) after the County Board had approved it in March 2022. The agreement involved placing hundreds of tablets in both the jail and the House of Correction. In March 2025, he signed an amendment that extended the contract until 2028. The county pays about $71,280 each year, and authorities say the devices are intended to help inmates stay in contact with their families, lawyers, and support services.
The first high-profile abuse became public in May. Prosecutors said Amier H. Jones Jr., charged with stalking, being a felon in possession of a firearm, fleeing police and recklessly endangering safety, used a jail tablet and jail phones to try to reach the mother of his child more than 1,500 times after his January arrest, violating a no-contact order. About 300 of those calls were answered. On May 5, prosecutors said, he sent tablet messages that included threats, one of them telling an investigating officer he was “already on my hit.”
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office asked Judge Ana Berrios-Schroeder to stop Jones from communicating and to increase his bail to $75,000; she rejected both requests and said she would give him ‘one opportunity’. The Fraternal Order of Police Cream City Lodge No. 8 described the decision as ‘a very serious error in judgment’, with Police Union President Michael Murphy saying that Jones had been permitted ‘to continue terrorizing this victim’.
A second case landed in court on August 28. Thomas Zollicoffer, 36, was charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the killings on August 8 of his ex-girlfriend Vanessa DeHerrera, Scott Bucholz and Shamarla Hare. Assistant District Attorney Emily Zimmel stated in court that Zollicoffer had used a tablet issued by the county to talk to threatening witnesses, including sending a message that said, “Mark my words. I’ll be out even if it’s for a short time. They will pay for setting everything in motion.”
Borowski agreed with the state’s plea to keep Zollicoffer confined and to take away his rights to visitors, telephone calls, and the use of devices except in relation to his lawyer. The judge then went a step further.
“Why is the Sheriff’s Department giving defendants tablets? It’s preposterous,” Borowski said. “There is no need, constitutional or otherwise, to have a tablet when they sit in jail. And I don’t care if they’re charged with a burglary or an armed robbery or, for that matter, a domestic violence case. This is a triple homicide. This defendant does not need a laptop.”
Borowski also stated that in another case involving a defendant, the defendant had used a tablet issued by the sheriff to intimidate witnesses and had later “allegedly hacked through it to access child pornography”; he also mentioned the Jones case, noting that it involved ‘1,200 or 1,500 intimidating threats and phone calls or threats made from a tablet’.
“David Crowley cannot claim he didn’t know there was a problem,” Tiffany said. “After the first case became public in May, he had an opportunity to demand accountability, fix the problem, and make sure it never happened again. He failed to do that. As governor, I will put victims first and hold criminals accountable. Violent inmates will not be handed tablets they can use to harass victims or intimidate witnesses from behind bars.”
Tiffany has stated that while serving as governor, he would do away with free inmate tablets and would altogether prohibit violent criminals, murderers, and sex offenders from using the devices.
