A 22-year-old Milwaukee man accused of strangling a woman and pointing a gun at her is now facing felony intimidation charges after prosecutors say he called and messaged the same victim more than a hundred times from behind bars at the Milwaukee County Jail. Kahnye Ali-Powells was charged with felony intimidation of a victim on October 1, on top of charges he already faced for contact after a domestic abuse arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, Ali-Powells called the woman 15 times in February, and she answered nine of those calls. As reported by WISN, prosecutors allege he asked her during those calls whether she wanted to see him in jail and whether she was pressing charges — conversations prosecutors say happened while a 72-hour no-contact order was in place. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's office filed the original charges against Ali-Powells in February, according to court records.
The complaint also details 164 messages Ali-Powells allegedly sent the woman between July 28 and September 27. In one message dated September 12, he wrote, “I need you to help me get out so please do that for me.” In another, prosecutors say he wrote, “kill yo self so I can kill us.”
A Judge Cuts Off His Communication
A judge had issued a no-contact order between Ali-Powells and the woman, according to criminal records, and on October 2 a judge agreed to rescind his communication privileges, court records show. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case, the station's report notes.
Ali-Powells's case is the third high-profile case this year involving inmates accused of contacting victims from inside Milwaukee County facilities, part of a pattern that has put the jail's tablet system under scrutiny. Milwaukee County Sheriff's deputies have shown reporters how the jail-issued tablets work as part of that broader examination.
How the Jail's Tablets Actually Work
Much of the public confusion stems from how inmate communication technology functions at the jail. The tablets run on a closed network without internet access and cannot place or receive phone calls, according to FOX6 News. Jail Director Joshua Briggs has said the devices cannot connect to the internet or make phone or video calls, and that messaging sent through them is strictly monitored, keyword-flagged, and requires the recipient to verify their name, email address and identity using government-issued identification, per WISN's separate fact-check. Briggs has estimated that 98% of inmates use the tablets responsibly.
Phone and video calls run through a separate system from the tablets. In the case of Amier Jones Jr., who prosecutors say violated a no-contact order and is accused of trying to contact a victim more than 1,500 times between January and May, WTMJ reported that those 1,500-plus contacts were phone calls rather than tablet messages, and that Jones also used the jail's separate video-calling system. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has said an occupant who attempted contact with a victim more than 1,500 times had his communication privileges revoked and faced additional criminal charges, according to a statement posted on Urban Milwaukee.
Other Recent Cases Raise Similar Concerns
Damian Cosme-Torres is accused of calling his victim more than 2,400 times from jail. Investigators documented 2,409 attempts to call and message a woman between April 4 and September 13, leading to charges of felony intimidation of a victim and misdemeanor contempt of court, WTMJ reported. On September 22, a judge signed an order rescinding Cosme-Torres's telephone, visitation and U.S. mail privileges while he remains in custody.
Thomas Zollicoffer, who faces three homicide charges, was separately accused by prosecutors of attempting to influence or intimidate witnesses through jail communications, per the same WTMJ report. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski later restricted Zollicoffer's access to most electronic communication. The tablet program itself, which the sheriff's office says is funded entirely through fees paid by occupants and their families rather than taxpayers, was introduced in 2021 as part of the county's telecommunications contract with ICSolutions, according to Urban Milwaukee.
Tablets Become a Political Flashpoint
The jail's tablet system has also become a campaign issue in Wisconsin's 2026 race for governor, raising broader questions about security, communication and oversight, according to WTMJ's reporting. A judge raised questions on August 28 about the tablets' potential use for witness intimidation, victim harassment and child pornography access, as reported by Wisconsin Watch. Urban Milwaukee has reported that the sheriff's office and the courts could work on communicating better when a no-contact order is in effect — a gap that cases like Ali-Powells's continue to expose.
