SPRINGVILLE, Utah (AP) — The state of Utah has withdrawn the license of a boarding school that socialite Paris Hilton claims subjected her to abuse as a teenager, citing the school’s failure to provide adequate health and safety services for its clients.
This action, effective from Monday, highlights several noncompliance issues at the Provo Canyon School’s Springville campus. The institution has 15 days to appeal for a hearing with the Department of Health & Human Services.
The school has been cited for numerous infractions dating back to 2025. These include failing to improve staff-to-client ratios, engaging in unnecessary restraints and aggressive physical interactions with a client, neglecting care, and failing to verify employee information or conduct timely background checks on applicants. In May, state health officials imposed temporary restrictions on the school, noting that staff failed to provide immediate medical care for a student with severe injuries.
“For more than fifty years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect, and trauma,” Hilton remarked in a statement released Tuesday. “Today, the state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care.
“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.”
Hilton, known as a hotel heiress and media personality, attended the school for nearly a year in the late 1990s. She alleges that staff members physically assaulted her, monitored her while she showered, administered unknown pills, and confined her in solitary confinement without clothing.
Hilton, now 45, has urged Utah authorities to shut down the school. She has shared her experiences in Congress and state legislatures across the United States, contributing to the enactment of laws aimed at safeguarding teenagers in Utah and 15 other states. Utah has long been a significant player in the troubled teen industry, which consists of private, for-profit residential centers for children with behavioral issues.
Provo Canyon School has not yet responded to an Associated Press request for comment. The state has mandated that all services at the campus must cease by August 6.
In June, Hilton visited the school to support two families who filed lawsuits claiming their children were mistreated there.
While the school is now under new ownership, the current administration has declined to comment on any incidents prior to the transition, including those involving Hilton.
