On Monday, reality star aughts and heiress Paris Hilton testified in a Salt Lake City court about the alleged abuse she witnessed and experienced firsthand as a teenager at a Utah boarding school for “troubled teens”.
The Associated Press reports that Hilton testified in support of a bill that would require stronger government oversight of residential treatment centers for young people and require them to document the use of restrictions on residents. Ffollowing the exciting testimonies Hilton and three other survivors, the measured passed unanimiserably.
“I speak today on behalf of hundreds of thousands of children currently in nursing homes in the United States, ”said Hilton before the Utah State Senate committee hearing. “In the past 20 years, I had a recurring nightmare in which I was kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, searched and locked up in a facility. I wish I could tell you that this scary nightmare was just a dream, but it is not. “
Hilton, now 39, attended Provo Canyon School for 11 months at the age of 17. The school prides itself on its compassionate and professional approach to young people plagued by emotional and behavioral problems, but Hilton says she was “verbally, mentally and physically abused daily” in the facility. ”
“Without a diagnosis, I was forced to consume drugs that left me numb and exhausted. I haven’t breathed fresh air or seen sunlight for 11 months, ”said Hilton. “There was no privacy – every time I used the bathroom or showered – it was monitored. At 16 – as a child – I felt his piercing eyes fixed on my naked body. I was just a child and I felt violated every day. “
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Hilton went public for the first time with his allegations against Provo Canyon in documentary This is paris, launched in September 2020. Additional Provo Canyon survivors shared their own distressing tales of abuse after the documentary, including tattoo artist Kat Von D; on a Instagram video, Kat described her passage through Provo Canyon as “the most traumatic six months of my life. “
In the accompanying caption, Kat Von D wrote, that she emerged with “Severe PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this ‘school’ – and I can’t believe this place STILL WORKS. “
ssince its founding 50 years ago, Provo Canyon has been the subject of various processes, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. The school distanced itself from the abuse allegations after the deluge of media attention they received after the Paris documentary. Since October 2020, the following message has appeared on the first page of the school’s website: “Note that the PCS was sold for its previous property in August 2000. Therefore, we cannot comment on the operations or the patient’s experience before that time. We are committed to providing high quality care to young people with special, and often complex, emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs.
There is also a link to a series of recent press releases. “While we recognize that there are individuals over many years who believe they have not been helped by the program, we are excited by the many stories that former residents share about how their stay was a crucial point in improving – and in many cases, saving – their lives, ”says one. But Provo Canyon’s suggestion that the new property ended a cycle of abuse fell apart, considering the allegations continued under the current leadership.
From The Salt Lake Tribune:
Six women who were there between 2003 and 2017 told The Tribune similar stories of being over-medicated, restrained and punished for minor infractions while on women’s campuses in Springville and Orem.
Kayla Smith was 8 years old when her parents, in coordination with the California school district, sent her to Utah in 2010.
She is 19 now, but still feels a tension in her chest as she talks about the time she spent there.
Smith remembers being searched and touched by the team, an experience that was hazy for her because she had been medicated before she arrived. She was homesick the first night, and employees placed her in a seclusion room and locked her up – which is against Utah’s regulatory rules, which say “waiting rooms” cannot be locked.
This project alone should not end the cruelty that former participants say is embedded in the culture on Provo Canyon’s multiple campuses, but anything that might make an overzealous employee hesitate before hitting a child’s body and injecting it. with sedatives it won’t hurt. Like Hilton said reporters, “This project will definitely help a lot of children, but obviously there is more work to do, and I will not stop until the change happens ”.