A mother in Marion County, Fla., jailed after her son missed 71 out of 100 school days he was enrolled in calls her punishment ridiculous and defended her parenting during a jailhouse interview with Local 6 News.

Last school year, Kimberly Niedzielski's son, Jacob, missed most of the school days he was scheduled to attend.

The missed school days landed Niedzielski in front of a judge. As part of the truancy case, she was ordered to attend parenting and anger management classes and submit to a drug test.

Niedzielski refused and a judge sentenced her to 30 days behind bars.

"I think what (the judge) did was ridiculous," Niedzielski said. "I think they way they handled it was ridiculous. I'm in here with a bunch of people smoking crack, why don't you give them drug treatment?"

"But they don't have a 16-year-old who missed 70 out of 100 days of school," Local 6's Todd Jurkowski said.

"I have a 16-year-old who legally quit school when he turned 16," Niedzielski said. "(The) case should have been closed.

"Combating truancy in Marion County is a team approach, involving the school district, law enforcement and the state attorney's office," Jurkowski said. "And state officials said Niedzielski is only the second parent they can remember who has been thrown in jail because of it."

Jurkowski said the anti-truancy effort in the county appears to be working.

In Marion County, the average number of unexcused absences dropped about 10 percent in the past five years.

"We don't ever want to see somebody go to jail, but if that's what it takes to keep kids in school, that's what the state attorney feels is best," Marion County Schools representative Kevin Christian said.

During the interview with Local 6, Niedzielski defended the way she is raising her child.

"If hooking school is all he's doing after everything that's happened to him, he's not out robbing banks, murdering people or doing drugs," Niedzielski said. "If I'm a bad parent, maybe I'll go checking on your back porch."

Niedzielski remains in the Marion County Jail but should be out by Oct. 10, according to the report.

She said she will follow the judge's order, submit to a drug test and take the required classes in an attempt to keep custody of her son.

The boy's father has been in a coma for three years after a motorcycle crash, Jurkowski said.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.