(Image source from: ABC News)

A couple from California have each been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after they pleaded guilty to holding captive and torturing their children for years in their home.

"My parents took my whole life from me... But now, I'm taking my life back," one of their daughters said during a hearing on Friday.

She was one of two of the children, both now in college, who appeared in court to offer testimony about how they suffered at the hands of their parents - David and Louise Turpin.

The couple was arrested early last year after one of their 13 children, who ranged in age from two to 29, managed to escape their home in Perris and called the police.

According to authorities, the siblings had been isolated from the outside world and were oftentimes denied showers, medical care, and food. They were sometimes tied up for "weeks or even months at a time".

At first tying with ropes was a form of punishment, the victims told investigators. But when one victim escaped, the parents started using chains and padlocks to shackle some of the children to beds.

One of their sons told the court on Friday: "I cannot describe in words what we went through growing up. Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that happened, such as my siblings being chained up or getting beaten."

By Sowmya Sangam