Utah Revokes License of School Where Paris Hilton Says She Was Abused
SPRINGVILLE, Utah — The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has revoked the license of Provo Canyon School’s Springville campus, the private residential treatment center where celebrity and activist Paris Hilton has long alleged she was abused as a teenager. The state cited a pattern of safety failures dating back to 2025, including unnecessary physical restraint of clients, neglect of care, and failure to maintain adequate staff-to-client ratios.
According to NBC News, all services at the Springville campus must be terminated by August 6, 2026. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the DHHS.
Background and State Investigation
Provo Canyon School, founded in 1971, is a private, for-profit residential treatment center for children and adolescents ages 8 to 17. The school operates two campuses — a boys’ campus in Provo and a girls’ campus in Springville — and has been at the center of abuse allegations for decades.
The state’s investigation intensified after a May 18, 2026 incident in which staff failed to protect a minor resident during a physical assault and then delayed emergency medical care by calling a non-medical transport company instead of summoning 911. As the Utah DHHS reported, administrators also failed to act on documented safety concerns and transfer requests submitted by the resident and their guardian prior to the assault.
On June 17, 2026, the DHHS Division of Licensing and Background Checks placed 10 immediate conditions on the school’s license, including halting all new admissions, cooperating with unannounced state inspections, and revising emergency policies to permit calling 911 immediately. Less than three weeks later, regulators determined the violations were severe enough to warrant full revocation.
Paris Hilton’s Allegations and Advocacy
Hilton spent nearly 11 months at Provo Canyon School in the late 1990s. She alleges staff members beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills, and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing. Her 2020 documentary “This Is Paris” brought widespread attention to the school’s practices and launched her into advocacy work.
Since then, Hilton, now 45, has testified before Congress and state legislatures, helping pass laws to protect teens in Utah and 15 other states. In June 2026, she returned to the school to support two families who filed lawsuits alleging their children were mistreated there.
In a statement provided Tuesday, Hilton said: “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.”
She added: “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.”
Broader Context: The Troubled Teen Industry
Utah has long played an outsized role in the “troubled teen industry,” a network of private, for-profit residential centers for children with behavioral issues. The state’s permissive regulatory environment has made it a hub for such facilities, as noted by the Associated Press.
Provo Canyon School has faced numerous individual and class-action lawsuits since its inception, particularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s, ranging from physical and sexual abuse to medical negligence, false imprisonment, and invasion of privacy, according to Wikipedia.
School’s Response
Provo Canyon School did not immediately respond to an email from the Associated Press seeking comment. The school is under new ownership, and the administration has said it cannot comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton’s time there.
What’s Next
Several key questions remain unanswered. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the DHHS, which could delay or alter the revocation. Approximately 98 students are currently enrolled at the Springville campus, and it remains unclear what arrangements will be made for their care after the August 6 shutdown deadline.
It is also uncertain whether the Provo boys’ campus will face similar regulatory action. The revocation strengthens the case for broader federal oversight of residential treatment programs and may encourage other survivors to come forward with their stories.
Shannon Thoman-Black, Director of the DHHS Division of Licensing and Background Checks, stated: “No child should ever be harmed in programs meant to protect them. Our role is to hold providers to the highest standards of safety, and we will use every regulatory tool available to ensure vulnerable youth are protected.”