SALEM (AP) - The parents of a girl who nearly starved to death were sentenced to three years in prison.

Christopher and Tammy Nickel were found guilty in September of felony criminal mistreatment. The couple's adopted daughter, Kayla, weighed only 27 pounds when she was removed from their Salem home in December 2003. She was just shy of her 10th birthday.

Tammy Nickel cried and her husband put his arm around her back Monday as Judge Joseph Guimond explained why he thought the couple deserved prison time.

Guimond received 40 to 50 letters written on the couple's behalf after he found them guilty. The judge said he hated to make the Nickels' 11-year-old biological son another victim by sending his parents to prison, but he couldn't justify a sentence of probation and counseling.

“I cannot allow what happened to Kayla to ever happen again if I have the ability to stop it,” Guimond said.

Christopher Nickel told the court he wanted to apologize to Kayla. Tammy Nickel's comments were unintelligible through her tears.

The girl began living with the Nickels in November 1998, when she was 5.

Besides her lack of weight, Kayla had not been to a dentist since her adoption and had not been to a doctor in years. In an effort to hide her skeletal appearance and other maladies, the family did not enroll her in school.

At the trial, Kayla told the court that she spent hours closed in her room, sometimes handcuffed to her desk. The girl also testified that she often became so thirsty that she drank from the toilet.

The girl also testified that her adoptive father once pointed a gun to her head after she tried to sneak a piece of pizza.

Since she has been living with her new foster parents, Kayla has grown 6 inches, gained more than 60 pounds and learned to read and write.

“Kayla's resilience, hope and perseverance are something we can all try to emulate in our own lives,” said Sarah Morris, a Marion County deputy district attorney.