A woman accused of holding her severely malnourished stepson captive for 20 years – forcing him to drink out of a toilet – is now out of jail.

Kimberly Sullivan, 56, posted a $300,000 bond on Thursday.

Meantime, top state lawmakers are asking how this alleged victim fell through the cracks for decades.

Waterbury police say that a house on Blake Street was a virtual prison for a 32-year-old man, who weighed just 68 pounds when officers found him. The unidentified victim had rotted teeth and was only fed two sandwiches and two cups of water a day, according to an arrest warrant.

“This is the worst treatment of humanity that I’ve ever witnessed,” Chief Fernando Spagnolo said. “It was worse than the conditions of a jail cell.”

The man set fire to his own home to escape.

“I wanted my freedom,” the victim told investigators, according to the warrant.

Sullivan faces charges of first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons. Prosecutors allege that she locked her stepson in a 9 x 8-foot storage room for up to 23 hours a day – only being let out to do chores.

“After he urinated in a bottle, he would have to then funnel it into a tube he created with a series of straws and then guide those straws through a hole in the window to empty it,” the affidavit said. “He placed newspaper on the ground and squatted over it to relieve himself.”

On Thursday, a judge denied prosecutors’ request for 24-hour home confinement and GPS monitoring. Instead, Sullivan will have to check in regularly with a probation officer and cannot leave Connecticut.

“Ms. Sullivan has strongly denied all of these allegations,” said her attorney, Jason Spilka. “What my pitch to the judge is that, ultimately, because Ms. Sullivan is not a threat to the general public, that there should be no 24-7 lockdown and that there should be no GPS monitoring,”

How did a woman allegedly hold her stepson captive for two decades without anyone knowing?

Waterbury police said their last contact with the family was in April 2005, after other children noticed the boy was missing.

“The officers went to the house. The house was clean, it was lived-in,” Spagnolo told reporters. “They spoke to the victim at that moment in time and there was no cause for any alarm.”

But the victim’s elementary school principal told NBC Connecticut that he called the state Department of Children and Families at least 20 times. Police said the boy was pulled out of school in fourth grade. “We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done,” said Tom Pannone, principal at the now-closed Barnard Elementary School. “Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong.”

DCF said it has no record of investigations involving the family.

“The Department of Children and Families has looked extensively at our current and historical databases and, to date, have been unable to locate any records pertaining to this family nor any records connected to the names of others who have indicated they made reports to our Department,” Commissioner Jody Hill-Lilly said in a statement. “It should also be noted that reports of neglect and abuse that have been investigated and not substantiated are expunged five years after completion of the investigation provided there are no other substantiated reports. We will continue our search and ask anyone with additional information to contact the Waterbury Police Department.”

State lawmakers are demanding answers from DCF.

“We need accountability,” Connecticut Senate Republicans said in a statement. “This is horrific. This is nauseating cruelty.”

Police are also looking for answers from relatives. The victim had two half-sisters, according to police.

“We’re attempting to talk to everybody in this case,” Spagnolo said.

A relative who last saw the boy in 2004 or 2005 was so concerned that “about 10 years ago, he spoke with a private investigator who suggested going to vital statistics to look for a death certificate,“ according to court papers. But it does not appear that he contacted authorities.

Neighbors are also wondering how they missed a house of horrors next door.

“Why didn’t he just look over me and say, ‘Help me?’ Was he that broken?” said neighbor Zeffery Guarnera. “If I just saw him in the window and if he tapped on the window and said ‘Help me’ or something, obviously I would have done something.”

Sullivan’s attorney suggested that her late husband, the alleged victim’s biological father, was to blame for any mistreatment.

“She is the stepmother, so his father did dictate everything as to the upbringing and everything else,” Spilka said. “She’s presumed innocent until – and if ever – she’s proven otherwise.”

Sullivan’s next court date is March 26. Her attorney does not expect to enter a plea at that time.