Bruce Jackson

Confidential records concerning the care of Bruce Jackson, found nearly starved to death in his adoptive Collingswood home in 2003, will remain under seal, a judge decided Monday. "I do not see a reason to invade Mr. Jackson's privacy," Superior Court Judge Mary Eva Colalillo said in denying a request by The Inquirer to unseal Jackson's file, which could include information on his education, finances, and job training. Colalillo said she would review medical records to determine whether an additional advocate is needed for Jackson.

The noise coming from all the adults is ear-splitting. Bruce Jackson's biological parents, Bruce Roy and Joanne Principal, are telling the media how upset they were when they realized the stunted, bone-thin boy in the center of the current N.J. Department of Youth and Family Services controversy was the son to whom they'd given life 19 years ago. Meanwhile, on last night's 60 Minutes II episode, you might have heard the Jacksons' biological children...

Bruce Jackson plans to have his day in court, facing the woman who has admitted to withholding food and medical care from him and three adopted brothers. Now 21, Jackson weighed 45 pounds in October 2003 when he was found rummaging through a garbage can near his Collingswood home. Today, he weighs at least 140. Tomorrow afternoon, his adoptive mother, Vanessa Jackson, is expected to be sentenced to seven years in prison for starving Jackson and his three adopted brothers. "He has some very accusatory things to say," said Michael Critchley, Bruce Jackson's high-profile North Jersey attorney.

Bruce Jackson - the 19-year-old described on national television last night as a sickly, troubled boy at the center of the Collingswood starvation case - has grown at least an inch since his removal from his home a month ago, according to a senior state official. The height gain has heartened doctors because it means his growth plates have not fused and he has the potential to grow more, said the official, who is involved in the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The height gain - coupled with a weight increase from 45 pounds to 66 pounds - is being carefully monitored by state officials, as is the progress of Jackson's three brothers, who have gained 9 to 16 pounds each since they were removed from their home Oct. 10 and their parents were charged with criminal neglect.

With much fanfare, New Jersey officials in 2005 announced the state would pay $5 million to Bruce Jackson for the years of neglect he endured in a Collingswood home filled with adopted and foster children. But the landmark case is now also distinguished for the extraordinary secrecy that extends to almost every aspect of Jackson's life. An unusual order to seal his court records has placed the 25-year-old in such a protective cocoon that almost nothing can be known about his care under state guardianship, monitored by the same department that failed him in the first place.

Vanessa Jackson, the Collingswood woman who pleaded guilty in 2005 to starving her four adopted sons, has been denied parole, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said yesterday. Jackson and her husband, Raymond, were charged after their adopted son Bruce was discovered sifting a neighbor's trash in October 2003, looking for food. Although he was 19 at the time, Bruce Jackson stood just 4 feet tall and weighed 45 pounds. His three younger adopted brothers were also severely undersize.

Bruce Jackson, the severely malnourished 19-year-old who was discovered two years ago looking for food in his neighbor's garbage can in Collingswood, wanted to be in court yesterday to see his civil case draw to a close. He also had "strong feelings" about testifying in the criminal case against his adoptive mother, Vanessa Jackson, who pleaded guilty last week to endangering Bruce and his three adopted brothers. "He has issues, and he realizes now that he never could have gone through with it," said Michael Critchley, his attorney.

Bruce Jackson laments his lost childhood. His 11-year-old brother wants the woman who once was his mother to know he loves her, but he doesn't like her. Another brother said that when he lived with the Jacksons, he was angry all the time. And the 12-year-old said it most plainly. "I'm mad at you," the boy said, wearing a suit, sitting straight up, and looking into a camera. "You starved me and I will show no mercy. How mad I am is three million acres long. " While the four adopted sons she admitted to starving looked on, Vanessa Jackson was sentenced to seven years in state prison yesterday.

A nonprofit legal organization that protects the rights of the disabled will investigate the care that a state-run group home is providing to Bruce Jackson seven years after he made national news with his story about how he and his three brothers nearly starved to death in an adoptive home in Collingswood. Joseph Young, executive director of Disability Rights of New Jersey, said Wednesday that the federally funded agency would ask to interview Jackson, now 26, who lives in a group home in Gloucester County for the developmentally disabled.

Three starving Collingswood boys, removed from their adoptive home after a neighbor saw their frail older brother rifling through garbage for scraps, have found happiness with new parents. Seven years after the case made national headlines, and weeks after their reviled mother was freed from a New Jersey state prison, news photographs captured the now-healthy trio roughhousing with glee. But how is their brother, Bruce Jackson, who changed their lives with his 3 a.m. foraging and his willingness to tell all to police?

The confinement of four mentally disabled adults in a Tacony basement already deserves a special place in the history of criminal cruelty in Philadelphia, and the number of victims seems likely to grow. Tuesday night, authorities took custody of 10 children and teens, apparently malnourished and traumatized, who had been in the care of Linda Ann Weston, accused of imprisoning the adults to collect their social security benefits. Even more gruesome examples could be uncovered as the investigation expands to other states.

Confidential records concerning the care of Bruce Jackson, found nearly starved to death in his adoptive Collingswood home in 2003, will remain under seal, a judge decided Monday. "I do not see a reason to invade Mr. Jackson's privacy," Superior Court Judge Mary Eva Colalillo said in denying a request by The Inquirer to unseal Jackson's file, which could include information on his education, finances, and job training. Colalillo said she would review medical records to determine whether an additional advocate is needed for Jackson.

With much fanfare, New Jersey officials in 2005 announced the state would pay $5 million to Bruce Jackson for the years of neglect he endured in a Collingswood home filled with adopted and foster children. But the landmark case is now also distinguished for the extraordinary secrecy that extends to almost every aspect of Jackson's life. An unusual order to seal his court records has placed the 25-year-old in such a protective cocoon that almost nothing can be known about his care under state guardianship, monitored by the same department that failed him in the first place.

Here's hoping a nonprofit legal group that protects the rights of the disabled can add a happy chapter to the sad story of four brothers found starving in their adoptive home in Collingswood seven years ago. Bruce Jackson saved not only his own life but also the lives of his brothers when he reported their living conditions. But today, while his siblings have found happiness with new parents, Jackson is prevented from seeing them. The brothers say they have been cut off from Jackson, who was declared incompetent after the brothers were rescued.

A nonprofit legal organization that protects the rights of the disabled will investigate the care that a state-run group home is providing to Bruce Jackson seven years after he made national news with his story about how he and his three brothers nearly starved to death in an adoptive home in Collingswood. Joseph Young, executive director of Disability Rights of New Jersey, said Wednesday that the federally funded agency would ask to interview Jackson, now 26, who lives in a group home in Gloucester County for the developmentally disabled.

Three starving Collingswood boys, removed from their adoptive home after a neighbor saw their frail older brother rifling through garbage for scraps, have found happiness with new parents. Seven years after the case made national headlines, and weeks after their reviled mother was freed from a New Jersey state prison, news photographs captured the now-healthy trio roughhousing with glee. But how is their brother, Bruce Jackson, who changed their lives with his 3 a.m. foraging and his willingness to tell all to police?

Vanessa Jackson, who was convicted in a notorious child-starvation case in Camden County, is scheduled to be freed today from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, N.J. Jackson, 54, will have served four years for endangering the welfare of four adopted brothers who were so emaciated they more than doubled their weight soon after they were taken from her. She could have served up to seven years under a sentence handed down in Superior...

Vanessa Jackson, the Collingswood woman who pleaded guilty in 2005 to starving her four adopted sons, has been denied parole, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said yesterday. Jackson and her husband, Raymond, were charged after their adopted son Bruce was discovered sifting a neighbor's trash in October 2003, looking for food. Although he was 19 at the time, Bruce Jackson stood just 4 feet tall and weighed 45 pounds. His three younger adopted brothers were also severely undersize.

Tre'Shawn Mitchell savors big stacks of pancakes. It's the batter that sends him fleeing, drawing deep breaths to fight back the old memories. "As soon as I see the pancake batter, I turn around and go right up to my room and stand there a few seconds," said Mitchell, a lanky 17-year-old with muscular biceps. "I can't stand the sight of batter. " Mitchell used to be Keith Jackson, second-oldest of the four starving brothers discovered in a Collingswood adoptive home in 2003.

"There is a long walk home still. " That realistic appraisal came from Kevin Ryan, the head of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. It puts into perspective the findings of a federal court-appointed monitor, who earlier this week released the first review of the new, cabinet-level agency focusing solely on children's well-being. It found that good progress is being made on correcting fatal flaws in state children's services. The department may not sound as familiar as its infamous underling: the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS)