A West Virginia man, his wife and her boyfriend, have all been arrested and accused of locking up a pair of 2-year-old twin boys in squalid conditions and leaving one “on death’s door.”

Michael and Lylee Gillenwater and Brian Casto, of Ripley, allegedly self-medicated the toddlers to put them to sleep, locking them in a “very soiled-conditions type of bedroom” for days at a time, the Jackson County Sheriff’s office said.

Deputies came across the children on Monday after one of them was found unresponsive and suffering from “complete renal failure,” Sheriff Ross Mellinger told WOWK.

“The neglect had reached such a level that one of the 2-year-olds had lost consciousness and was on death’s door when the notification was made to the sheriff’s office,” Mellinger said. “The twin 2-year-old boys had, basically, been locked in a Hell-on-Earth type of situation within their apartment room.”

Police said the children were found in an “extreme” state of malnutrition and dehydration, with an investigation showing that they were only fed cereal and pieces of ground beef that was slid to them underneath the door.

Mellinger said that the children were locked in the apartment room for “as many as six weeks at a time.”

“I think it’s fair to say that, given the circumstances at hand, I think the average barnyard animal would probably provide better parental care and nurturing than what these kids were afforded through the three adults living in this home,” he said.

One son suffered renal failure and was transported to the CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital, in Charleston, and later flown to the Ruby Memorial Hospital, in Morgantown.

Mellinger said that the child was in a “very, very dire situation,” and would likely face several medical hurdles and it remains unclear “whether he’s even going to survive or not.”

The boy’s twin was also removed from the home, along with a third female child police found. It was not immediately clear what her relationship was with the family.

The sheriff added that, as the twins stayed in the locked room, Michael lived upstairs while his wife and her boyfriend stayed in the basement.

Mellinger ultimately described the three adults as “animals,” noting that his department was completely appalled as to how parents could treat their own children in such a way.

“Every time you see an incident like this, it really puts a lot of things in perspective, not only from a law enforcement standpoint, but from a parental standpoint,” said Mellinger. “It’s just amazing to me that animals like this still exist – where becoming a parent is a burden, and living in such a nasty environment.

Michael was charged with two counts of child neglect with serious risk of injury or death and child neglect resulting in injury. Lylee faces two counts of child neglect resulting in injury.

Casto was also charged with one count of child abuse resulting in injury and one count of child abuse with risk of injury.