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The sentences imposed in federal court in Newark on Monday, Oct. 30, "hold Carolyn Jackson and John Jackson accountable for their horrific crimes, and bring a measure of justice for their victims,” said U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger (photo above, left).
Carolyn Jackson, 46, was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison. John E. Jackson, 48, formerly a U.S. Army major at the Picatinny Arsenal, got nine years.
Both must serve just about all of their terms because there’s no parole in the federal prison system.
Federal jurors in Newark convicted both Jacksons of various endangerment charges in July 2015 for breaking the toddlers’ bones, denying them medical attention, withholding water and force-feeding them hot sauce, among other horrific acts.
Carolyn Jackson got two years in prison, while her husband got probation and an order to serve 400 hours of community service when they were first sentenced in December 2015.
Federal prosecutors appealed the sentences to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which in July 2017 found several errors in the sentencing process.
When the Jacksons were resentenced in April 2018, Carolyn got 40 months – with credit for time served – and her husband again got probation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey went right back to the appeal court, which vacated the sentence and bounced it right back to Newark after finding more errors.
The third sentencing wasn’t the charm for the government: Carolyn got a time-served sentence with an additional year of supervised release. John Jackson was sentenced to 18 months of home confinement.
Federal prosecutors appealed once more, with the same result.
This time, however, the Court of Appeals ordered that the re-sentencing go to a different judge.
U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton (photo above, middle) imposed the stiffer sentences in Newark on Monday, Oct. 30.
The Jacksons "inflicted cruel and devastating abuse on three child victims over five years,” Sellinger said. “The defendants’ systematic abuse was horrifying. “Their victims were innocent and vulnerable children placed in their care but who were treated with unimaginable cruelty."
The children were all less than 4 years old and developmentally delayed at the time, he said.
DYFS took the children away in April 2010, two years after a 2-year-old son died of a seizure and was cremated.
The couple had served as foster parents to several medically at-risk children while living in Oklahoma and adopted the boy, who was born with birth defects and a drug addiction.
A 2-year-old girl was brought later to Morristown Memorial Hospital, where authorities determined she’d suffered “medical neglect, malnourishment and salt poisoning,” as well as evidence of what once had been a fractured wrist.
Three natural children and two adopted ones were soon taken away.
The Jacksons accused the DYFS of “kidnapping” the youngsters, holding them hostage and brainwashing them without allowing an independent assessment by U.S. Army investigators or the ability for the purportedly devout Christian family to pray together.
The couple claimed DYFS ignored evidence that exonerated them for no other reason than to make money for putting the children in foster care. As a result, they said, the children were being turned against God and them.
Federal authorities saw things much differently. The case fell under their jurisdiction because the crimes were committed on the U.S. military research and manufacturing facility located on 6,400 acres of land in Jefferson and Rockaway townships.
They arrested Carolyn Jackson at her Mount Holly home in April 2013 after a federal grand jury returned a 17-count indictment against her and her husband, who surrendered earlier that day.
According to the indictment, the abuse continued for five years before DYFS intervened.
In that time, it says, the Jacksons “told their three 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."
A family friend at one point told John Jackson that one of the children had revealed the abuse, the indictment says. He told his wife, who "retaliated against that child with multiple beatings with a belt."
“The Jacksons physically assaulted their children with various objects, causing two children to sustain fractured bones for which the Jacksons failed to seek prompt medical attention,” the indictment adds.
“They also withheld proper medical care for their adopted children, withheld sufficient nourishment and food for two of their children, withheld adequate water from two of their children, and, at times, prohibited them from drinking water altogether," it says.
The indictment adds: “The Jacksons even punished an adopted child they caught sneaking food or water and required one of their biological children to prevent that child from drinking out of sinks and toilets.
“As another form of punishment, Carolyn and John Jackson forced two of the children to consume food intended to cause them pain and suffering, variously including red pepper flakes, hot sauce, and raw onion,” it says. “They also caused one child to ingest excessive sodium or sodium-laden substances while being deprived of water, leading to a life-threatening condition.”
John Jackson was discharged from the U.S. Army in May 2015.
In addition to the prison terms, Wigenton sentenced him and his wife on Monday to three years of supervised release.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the convictions and sentencings. He also thanked the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division's Northeast Field Office and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Handling the case for the government were Assistant U.S. Attorneys Desiree L. Grace and John F. Romano of Sellinger’s office in Newark.
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