An 11-year-old broke through a closet wall, jumped from a second-floor window and asked strangers for food. His adoptive mother got 40 years

An 11-year-old boy in Georgia broke through a closet wall and jumped from a second-story window in 2023 to get away from his adoptive mother. That woman, 42-year-old Chloe Jackson-Jones, has now been sentenced to 40 years in a state prison. The term will be followed by 20 years of probation. Jackson-Jones pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault with family violence, two counts of false imprisonment and 17 counts of first-degree cruelty to children, according to Law&Crime.

The sentence came out of a deal with prosecutors. They said they agreed to the plea deal as it spared the victim from having to testify at trial. District Attorney John Herbert Cranford Jr. said his office would have sought a longer sentence if possible, as he considers the punishment allowed by law “too good for this defendant.” He added that his office wants her to serve every day of the 40 years. Court records show Jackson-Jones adopted the boy when he was eight.

Officers were called to the Bullsboro Crossing subdivision after two passersby spotted the boy running down the street, visibly frightened. The pair stayed with him until help arrived, and they told investigators that one of the first things he did was ask them for food. Detectives said they noticed scars and markings on his body that appeared “consistent with long-term abuse and neglect.”

Investigators say videos on her phone documented the abuse

Jackson-Jones was taken into custody eight days later, and the boy was placed in the care of the Georgia Department of Family and Children’s Services. A probable cause affidavit described what Jackson-Jones did to the child as torture. Investigators said they recovered photographs and videos of the abuse from her cellphone. Police said the images showed the boy tied up while he was punched, slapped, and kicked.

Other footage showed him being forced to do household chores and to eat from the floor without using his hands, according to the affidavit. One video showed another child assaulting him while he scrubbed a bathroom floor, and further images showed him with a bloody lip and passing out while eating in the middle of the night. The boy told investigators that several other children lived in the home.

Jackson-Jones often encouraged them to mock and taunt him while he was being punished, he said. However, the punishments went beyond taunting. The boy said Jackson-Jones strangled him with her hands, gagged him so he could not speak, and tied him to a chair. Jackson-Jones also locked the boy in his bedroom or closet, both of which were locked from the outside.

He said he spent hours in the dark without food, water, or a toilet as the doors stayed locked. However, the boy said he eventually broke through the closet’s sheetrock wall and crawled between the framing studs. He then jumped from a second-floor window to get out of the house. Jackson-Jones is expected to be in her 80s by the time the 40-year prison term ends, and prosecutors have said they want her to serve all of it before the 20 years of probation begins.