On Friday, we brought you a CBS 58 exclusive after a Milwaukee County judge slammed a homicide suspect and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office for allowing laptops and tablets inside their jail. Now, Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany is using that to attack his Democratic opponent, David Crowley.

"Having a laptop or an iPad is a privilege. The rest of society pays $1,000 to have a laptop. We're gonna hand a defendant a laptop for what reason?" asked Judge David Borowski of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. The remarks came after it was discovered Thomas Zollicoffer, accused of killing three people on Aug. 8, used a county-issued laptop or tablet to intimidate witnesses.

According to the agreement with Inmate Calling Solutions from 2022, Milwaukee County received 960 tablets for MCSO and 1,232 for the House of Corrections.

CBS 58

Just last March, the contract to continue using those electronic devices was extended for another three years to go through March 2028. It was approved by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors with 16 ayes and two excused, later signed by county officials including County Executive David Crowley, who is now running as the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor.

Tiffany called it "unacceptable," noting if he were governor, he'd "eliminate tablet access entirely for violent criminals, murderers, and sex offenders."

Crowley, meanwhile, said this is a situation he takes "very seriously," and the goal of tablets for inmates is "helping residents stay connected to family, loved ones, and legal and support services".

Montse Ricossa:

"Given that last week it's reported that a triple homicide suspect tried to use one of those to intimidate witnesses, are there any changes you're looking to make into who can use the tablets and laptops and for what purposes?"

David Crowley:

"Well, this is a situation that I take very seriously, and we are working directly with the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office about steps moving forward. But when I think about my opponent, quite frankly, I don't really care what he has to say when it comes down to this, right? We're talking about Congressman Tom Tiffany, who has ... did not vote to release the Epstein files here in America. He's voted six times to defund police departments across the entire country. So I don't take what he has to say seriously. This is about making sure that we're working directly with the sheriff's office to make sure that we have policies in place moving forward to make sure that nothing like this happens again."

When pressed on what policies would be put in place, or when those conversations started, Crowley said he was going to continue to work with the sheriff's office before he speaks on it.

As for the triple homicide case, Zollicoffer is denied any future access to visitors, phone calls or electronic devices aside from communication with his lawyers.

CBS 58 has reached out to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office to learn more about the program and what possible changes could be made, but we haven't heard back yet.