2-Year Sentence For Army Wife Who Beat Adopted Kids, Force-Fed Them Hot Sauce

MORRISTOWN – A former Army Major and his wife were sentenced Tuesday to community service and two years in prison, respectively, for their roles in abusing and neglecting adopted children over a five-year period.

United States Attorney Paul Fishman announced Carolyn Jackson, 38, will spend 24 months in prison while her husband, John Jackson, 40, will complete 400 hours of community service after being found guilty of myriad offenses, including breaking the bones and denying medical attention for adopted children under the age of four while living at the Picatinny Arsenal Installation in Morris County between 2005 and 2010.

The prosecution sought sentences of 19 and 15 years for Carolyn and John Jackson, respectively, Fishman said.

“In every case, our office seeks a sentence that is fair and just in punishing the defendants and offering justice to the victims of their crimes,” U.S. Attorney Fishman said. “In this case, those victims were the children entrusted to the Jacksons’ care. Using the federal sentencing guidelines, our analysis of the crimes of which the Jacksons were convicted by a jury called for severe penalties. Obviously, we are disappointed that the court did not agree.”

Federal Judge Katherine Hayden presided over the trial and made the sentence.

The Jacksons were indicted on 17 counts of child abuse and neglect in 2013.

According to evidence from the case, Fishman accused the couple of:

From August 2005 until April 23, 2010, Carolyn and John Jackson conspired to engage in a constant course of neglect and cruelty towards three children they fostered and then adopted. The Jacksons told their biological children not to report the physical assaults to others, saying that the punishments and disciplinary techniques were justified, as they were “training” the adopted children how to behave.

After John Jackson was informed by a family friend that the oldest biological child had revealed the abuse in the Jackson household, John Jackson reported the breach to Carolyn Jackson, who retaliated against that biological child by beating the child 30 times with a belt.

As part of the conspiracy, the Jacksons physically assaulted their adopted children with various objects, causing two children to sustain fractured bones (including a fractured spine, fractured skull and fractured upper arms); failed to seek prompt medical attention for their injuries; withheld sufficient nourishment and food from their adopted children; withheld adequate water from two of their children and, at times, prohibited them from drinking water altogether; forced two of the children to consume foods intended to cause them pain and suffering, such as red pepper flakes and hot sauce, and caused one child to ingest excessive sodium or sodium-laden substances while being deprived of water, leading to a life-threatening condition on two separate occasions in two states. The Jacksons even punished one adopted child, who had to resort to sneaking food and drinking from the toilet, by hitting the child, making the child ingest hot sauce, and forcing the child to eat a raw onion like an apple.

Both face three years of supervised release as part of their sentence. John Jackson was discharged from the Army in May 2015.