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Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026

Did Wisconsin governor candidate Tom Tiffany vote for iPads for prison inmates?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
no

While a Wisconsin state senator, Tom Tiffany voted for state budgets that funded the state Department of Corrections — not for computer tablets the department made available to prison inmates.

Tiffany’s votes were raised by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 3 election for governor. 

Crowley has been criticized for approving tablets for county jail inmates. 

In response, Crowley claimed that Tiffany, now the Republican gubernatorial nominee and congressman, “voted for these types of iPads.” 

Tiffany voted for the 2017-19 and 2019-21 state budgets. They contained thousands of provisions across numerous departments.

In 2018, Corrections made tablets available to inmates to purchase.

The Legislature did not take votes on the tablet program.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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