MIAMI -- A woman is accused of starving and torturing her 7-year-old niece for whom she was supposed to be caring.

Felicia Watkins, 37, is charged with multiple counts of child abuse. She appeared before a judge Thursday in Miami.

Miami police said they were first notified after the girl's teacher noticed her fingers were swollen to the point that she could not hold a pencil.

Police said Watkins, who works in the cafeteria at Miami Beach High School, repeatedly abused her niece inside the Liberty City apartment she shared with her husband.

"The aunt confesses and says this was all a part of discipline and punishment," Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said. "So she seemed to think her actions were pretty normal. She was rather cavalier about it."

Police said Watkins squeezed the girl's fingers with pliers, whipped her with an electrical cord and starved her to the point that she weighed just 48 pounds.

"She would try and sneak food, because the only place she was eating was at the school cafeteria and when she was hungry she'd try to get food, and when she'd get that food and get caught, she'd be punished," Moss said.

The girl came to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother was arrested, accused of killing the girl's father.

No one answered the door at Watkins' apartment Thursday. The girl's uncle was not charged. He claims he works 12 hours a day and never noticed anything.

Watkins was arrested earlier this month and was being held on $60,000 bond at the Turner-Guilford-Knight Correctional Center.

The girl was placed in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.