Sheriff's office: jail tablets not funded by taxes, provide education and lawful communication

Deputy Director David Oogaber and jail staff briefed the committee on the Milwaukee County Jails occupant tablet program and answered supervisorsquestions about funding, security and misuse.

Oogaber told members the tablets operate on a closed network and are "not paid for with tax dollars," saying funding comes from occupants and their families and that free services include a law library, educational modules and program requests. He described vendor-provided monitoring (keyword detection) and a deputy position funded from tablet revenues to oversee messages and device operations. Officials said mail-scanning through tablets reduces fire hazards and contraband risks, helps programming such as parenting and anger-management classes and can ease staffing pressures by providing constructive activities in housing units.

Public commenter Shannon Ross, who said she had been incarcerated and now provides content to facilities, described the devicesvalue for education: "It was a phenomenal device to be able to have and give me access to advance where I was going to be going in my life," and called for improving content quality and vendor oversight. Committee members pressed staff about specific incidents reported elsewhere; deputies said a laptop misuse incident (separate from the tablet ecosystem) had been resolved by IMSD and that the tablet system itself has not produced the same vulnerability since mitigation steps were taken.

The committee accepted the informational briefing and asked staff to append the PowerPoint and supporting documents to the file for further review.