Digital tablets used by people held in the Milwaukee County Jail have become a campaign issue in Wisconsin’s 2026 race for governor, raising questions about security, communication and oversight.
On Point Taken, Urban Milwaukee’s Jeramey Jannene joins Kristin Brey and Steve Scaffidi to explain how the jail tablet program works and add context to some of the claims surrounding it.
The trio discusses Republican nominee Tom Tiffany’s criticism of Democratic nominee David Crowley over reported misuse of the devices. The conversation also highlighted an important distinction in one widely cited case: more than 1,500 contacts with a victim were phone calls, not 1,500 messages sent through a tablet. Prosecutors separately alleged that Amier Jones Jr. used a jail-issued tablet to send threatening messages while in custody.
Additional concerns emerged after prosecutors accused Thomas Zollicoffer, who is charged with three homicides, of attempting to influence or intimidate witnesses through jail communications. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski later restricted Zollicoffer’s access to most electronic communication.
You can check out more from Point Taken on the podcast page or on the YouTube playlist.
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