A 32-year-old emaciated man, weighing just 68 pounds at 5 feet, 9 inches tall, was allegedly held captive by his stepmother in a Waterbury residence in conditions described by police as worse than a jail cell since he was pulled out of school 20 years ago after school officials allegedly began raising red flags to the Department of Children and Families.

A man who police say was held captive 24 hours a day and forced to urinate in bottles for two decades was rescued after he set his room ablaze in a desperate attempt to free himself from his abusive stepmother.

A day after Waterbury police arrested a woman who is accused of holding her stepson captive for 20 years and depriving him of food, investigators are revealing more information about a case that the police chief called the “worst treatment in humanity’ that he has seen in his decades of law enforcement.

A severely emaciated Connecticut man was allegedly forced to urinate in bottles and locked inside for nearly 24 hours a day during two decades of captivity by his stepmother, police

A man in western Waterbury, Connecticut intentionally set his home on fire to escape after allegedly being held captive by his stepmother for more than 20 years. Police said the 32-year-old man was “extremely emaciated” and the Waterbury Chief of Police called it “the worst treatment of humanity” he has witnessed in his 33 year career.

Waterbury police say the victim of 20 years of alleged captivity was found weighing just 68 pounds when he intentionally set his home on fire to gain freedom last month.