Health and safety violations have led the state of Utah to shut down the “scared straight” school for troubled adolescents, where famed socialite and businesswoman Paris Hilton says she was subjected to brutal abuse after being sent there as a teenager.
The Provo Canyon School campus in Springville, Utah, had its operating license revoked after state officials found it to be noncompliant on multiple issues. Several of those violations reflect the same problems survivors and activists have long raised about Provo Canyon School and other “scared straight” camps and treatment facilities, including a failure to maintain adequate staffing levels, instances of unnecessary restraint and aggressive physical contact with clients, neglect of students in the school’s care and failures to verify employee information or conduct timely background checks on job applicants.
The state ordered the campus closed on Monday, according to Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. The school now has 15 days to comply with the order and cease operations at the Springville campus.
The closure did not come out of the blue for Provo Canyon School’s leadership. Temporary restrictions were imposed on the facility in May after staff failed to seek immediate medical care for a student suffering from serious injuries.
On Tuesday, Hilton welcomed the move in a statement regarding the school’s closure that was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The socialite turned reality star, DJ and entrepreneur first detailed the abuse she says she endured as a teenager in the YouTube documentary This Is Paris. She later became an outspoken advocate for reform, supporting legislation in Congress in 2023 aimed at increasing oversight and transparency for institutional youth treatment programs.
“Today, the State of Utah revoked Provo Canyon School’s license for its Springville campus. For more than fifty years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect, and trauma. Today, the state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care,” Hilton said in her statement.
“I was one of those children. I know what it feels like to cry for help and believe no one is coming. Today, children still inside that facility know someone is finally coming to protect them.
“The little girl in me who was told she would never be believed feels so validated today. We were telling the truth. We always were. No institution is too powerful to be held accountable. When survivors refuse to stay silent, change is possible.”
THR reached out to Provo Canyon School on Thursday but did not immediately hear back.