Mom jailed for handcuffing her kid to bed

Kelly Johnston punched her teenage daughter in the face and head before handcuffing her to a bed for stealing from her marijuana stash, a new level of cruelty for this 36-year-old Green Bay woman.

"You have treated your child worse than most people treat a disobedient dog," Kelley said. "Worse yet would be a mother who would do this to hide her own criminal activity."

Johnston was arrested in March 2005 after her then 15-year-old daughter called police and said she had been beaten and chained to a bed for 17 hours without food or water. Prosecutors charged Johnston with child abuse, false imprisonment and marijuana possession, but later dropped the child abuse charge as part of a plea bargain.

A judge has sentenced Johnston to 13 months at the Brown County Jail but spared her a prison term. She has also been ordered to write two 1,000-word essay-style letters to her daughter: "Ten Things I Love About You" and "Ten or More Favorite Memories About You and Why They are My Favorite."

Kelley said he hopes the reflection used to pen the essays will help start a healing process.

An interesting type of punishment wouldn’t you say? Maybe we should require criminals to write self reflection papers more often. Article here.