Tennessee women charged with child abuse for locking girl in a cabinet 'smaller than a coffin'

A pair of Tennessee women have been charged with felony child abuse after locking their daughter in a cabinet space "smaller than a coffin" for 13 hours, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.

"Terri Powell, 52, and Hattie Swiat, 38, were arrested after investigators with the Greenbrier Police Department and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services acted on a child abuse complaint earlier this month," reported A.J. McDougall. "The women had recently moved out of Ohio with their two girls, aged 15 and 9, police said. The teenager, Powell’s biological daughter, was allegedly forced into a cabinet in the women’s small camper as punishment for using her mother’s phone to access social media, according to Smokey Barn News."

According to the report, the 9-year-old girl "was in need of medical care and had not seen a doctor or a dentist since infancy" — and neither of the two girls were being sent to school.

“DCS is in the process of providing medical care for the girls and they’re both in a safe place, in a good home for now,” Lt. Buster Locklayer said in a statement, adding that depending on further investigation, more charges could be brought against the women.

This is not the first child abuse case that has gained public attention this year.

In Sandusky, Ohio, parents were charged for the horrific beating and torture of a 4-month old girl. And in Indiana, a man was arrested for breaking his 2-month-old child's ribs and legs to "inflict pain back" on him for pulling on his nose ring.