A mother in Georgia will spend the next several decades in prison after it was exposed that she was abusing her adopted 11-year-old son, who escaped her home by breaking through a bedroom closet drywall and jumping from a second-story window.
Coweta Superior Court Judge Emory Palmer sentenced Chloe Jackson-Jones to 40 years in a state correctional facility on Wednesday, September 30, which will be followed by 20 years of probation.
Jackson-Jones, 42, was sentenced after she 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 as part of a plea deal.
Following the sentencing, District Attorney John Herbert Cranford Jr. told the Newnan Times-Herald that his office would have sought a longer sentence if it were up to them.
“The punishment proscribed by law is too good for this defendant, and it is the desire of this Office that she serve every day of the next 40 years,” he said in a statement to the outlet.
Officers learned of the abuse when they responded to a report on July 5, 2023, at 6:41 p.m. when the 11-year-old boy was found running down the street by two pedestrians. The witnesses said that the boy appeared visibly frightened. He was reportedly 61 pounds at the time and was begging for food.
First responders spoke with the child, and detectives noted he had scars and markings on his body that were “consistent with long-term abuse and neglect,” according to Law & Crime.
Jackson-Jones was arrested on July 13, 2023, and the boy was placed in the custody of the Georgia Department of Family and Children’s Services.
An investigation was launched into Jackson-Jones, and authorities learned she inflicted “torture” on the boy after she adopted him when he was 8, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Newnan Times-Herald.
Investigators found explicit photos and videos of the horrific abuse on Jackson-Jones’ cellphone, which included the boy being tied up, punched, slapped and kicked while completely naked.
Police also said they found footage of the boy doing household chores while unclothed and being assaulted by another child while scrubbing the bathroom floor, as well as photos of the boy with a bloody lip.
While speaking to investigators, the boy said he lived with several other children in the home and that Jackson-Jones often encouraged them to mock him while he was being punished.
After detailing the physical abuse he endured, the boy explained that he finally had to “break through the sheetrock wall” of the closet and “crawl through the framing studs and jump from a second-floor window to escape the residence,” according to WXIA-TV.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
