Florida parent Brenda Sullivan was sentenced to 20 years in jail for abusing her teenage adopted son by caging him along with adopted twins as well.

The 17-year-old weighed 22kg (3st 7lb) when child welfare workers found him in 2005.

He suffered from severe medical and emotional problems and his mother, Brenda Sullivan, told a judge at the time that authorities told her to keep the boy in a crib.

But in January she pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated child abuse. Prosecutors agreed to drop lesser child neglect charges.

Two other children, 13-year-old twins the couple adopted as infants, testified that they were also kept in similar cages.

Sullivan’s husband Wilson Sullivan had also caged and abused the children but died back in 2007 before trial.

Her attorney said he was going to appeal because she is not a threat to society.  Some attorneys just don’t get it.  Jail is a punishment not just a deterrent.  She should probably be more than imprisoned for abusing a child.