Has Provo Canyon 'tortured' patients for decades? Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore and others expose reform school abuse
Paris Hilton's 'This is Paris' documentary sheds light on the revelations she had made about the reform school she was forced to go to during her younger days. The boarding school and psychiatric residential treatment center titled Provo Canyon School is located in Utah, where Hilton claims she was allegedly "tortured" when she staying there for 11 months. Since then, many other former students that had attended the school, along with former staff have also shared their experiences.
The businesswoman's documentary features three of her classmates that speak of their horrific experiences while at Provo Canyon. One of the victim's Lee Goldman told Fox News that she was sodomized and forced to intake medication without consent. She had said, "I didn't experience strangling but I did experience manhandling. The school recorded that they had five or six staff members restrain me at once. I'm all of 100 pounds."
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Another former student of the reform school spoke of how a concussion had resulted in a stutter because her accident was not reported to her parents. Jeb Robison, yet another survivor spoke of how she was "shoved" and how her face was rubbed into the carpet by staff members until it had "burns". There were many more accounts of dreadful experiences from those who went to Provo Canyon back in the day. The school has since said that they have changed ownership. The school told Fox News that while the reform school had opened its gates in 1971, it was sold in August of 2000. The new owners and school officials didn't want to comment on accusations that were placed on the school when they were not running it. Charter Behavioral Health Systems owned Provo Canyon School in 1999 back when Hilton had attended.
Hilton's courage to come out and speak of her abuse was lauded, and appreciated by many, who also felt safe in speaking about their trials in school as such. Besides Hilton though, there are few other celebrities who have come out and spoken about their experiences in reform schools.
Read on to find out which celebrities were sent to reform schools, which celebrities have sent their children to reform schools, and how far Provo Canyon's abuse dates back.
Celebrities who attended reform schools
Drew Barrymore
Last year, heiress Hilton had made an appearance on actress Drew Barrymore's talk show where she had discussed her documentary 'This is Paris' as she recounted spending time in solitary confinement. Besides the fact that the actress and heiress have known each other since they were young, they also shared other things in common. Barrymore spoke of how this time Hilton was about to face an interviewer that knows what Hilton went through saying, "I feel like, when it comes to an interviewer, maybe they haven't had the same experiences as you, so they're coming at it from more of a journalistic, interested-but-slightly-removed place. Do you find that?" She added, "Well, not this time. 've been where you've been. Watching your documentary, I don't know how many interviews and conversations I've going to have on this show where I'm watching a mirror image of everything I've been through as well."
As Hilton continued to recount her painful experiences at Provo, Barrymore, who has spoken about struggling with substance abuse when she was a child also said that she too had spent "lengthy periods of time" while she was going through her addiction - but there was a bit of a difference, the actress claimed the staff wasn't bad. "I have to tell you, the people at my place were really good. I mean, I didn't like being thrown in solitary confinement. I will say that I was very rebellious. I started riots there all the time and there were a lot of other kids like me, and my mom just didn't know what to do with me. I was doing drugs, I was out of control. She just threw her hands up and threw me in there, not knowing where else to turn to. And that place really did help me and it did save my life, and I actually wouldn't change a thing."
Hilton on the other hand experiences trauma that still lasts as part of her everyday life now as an adult. She had said, "I didn't deserve to go there. My mom and dad were just very strict and sheltered when I lived in LA. I wasn't allowed to go on dates, couldn't wear makeup, couldn't go to a school dance. They just didn't want me to grow up. Then I moved to New York and that's when my life changed."
Kat Von D
Celebrity tattoo artist, who actually went to Provo Canyon herself, also revealed what she called the "most traumatic six months." In an Instagram post, Von D spoke of how she had watched 'This is Paris' and how the documentary had brought back memories of things she had experienced while at what she called a "torturous" institution. "I spent those 6 traumatic months of my teenage years, only to leave with major PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this “school” — and cannot believe this place is STILL OPERATING," read her caption.
Speaking of her experiences, Von D said that she was at the "f*cking lockdown facility" when she was 15 and had spent her 16 birthday in the institution. She also revealed that that the school was recommended by the family therapist after the then young Von D was "listening to punk-rock music" and dressed "a little bit different than all of the other kids at school or church." During that time, Von D had started her now-famous tattoo career after dropping out of high school. Drawing a few similarities to Hilton's story, Von D said that a duo of "big dudes" and an "athletic-built woman" had entered her room while she was sleeping. They had told her to get dressed and come with them, and also threatened her with handcuffs if she didn't listen to them.
While on the way to Provo, Von D was blindfolded, and taken in as what she described as "completely degrading", along with being forced to shave her head. She was also told by a counselor that she had contracted HIV from her work, which Von D had believed at the time, but later revealed that the diagnosis was a "scare tactic" to stop her from doing what she had loved to do. Fortunately, the tattoo artist said that while she "spared of the sexual abuse and the physical abuse", she "definitely saw" other members bring force-fed meds and punished. Von D also revealed that after what she had endured at Provo Canyon, she suffered from PTSD and believes that the experience was "the root" of her alcoholism and drug use later in life.
Celebrities who have sent their kids to reform schools
While celebrities have come out and spoke about their experiences and reasons of being in reform schools, many have also sent their kids to such institutions. One of them is late King of Pop Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson who also went through some trauma. As per reports, Jackson had said that she went to a "behavior modification boarding school” for almost 2 years when she was a teenager. On her Instagram stories, the pop star's famous daughter spoke of how she has been diagnosed with PTSD, nightmares and trust issues after her experience at Diamond Ranch Academy in Utah. There is no information about the circumstances that led to Jackson attending the reform school, nor do we know who it was that put her there or thought she would get better while there.
History of Provo Canyon and its alleged abuse over decades
After Hilton had come out bravely with her story, shock waves began to spread all over social media since the heiress had spoken about her abuse for the first time. When she had decided to go public with her allegations of physical and mental abuse while attending Provo Canyon School in the 1990s, the institution had decided to take no responsibility claiming they were under new management since the time Hilton had attended. As per the Salt Lake Tribune, this has been what they called a "pattern of controversy and allegations of abuse" that goes back to the 1980s, when Provo Canyon came to be one of the state's largest youth residential treatment centers, not only in Utah but in the United States. The publication was told experiences of eight students that were former residents at the reform school, at three of their four campuses. The abuse ranged from physical restraints, staff piling on children, chemical sedation, isolation rooms, and many others.
The publication further revealed that while the school has had to deal with more than a few lawsuits, threats from the state to pull its licenses, public allegations of abuse, and even a company bankruptcy, it has managed to continue to run for 5 decades. The publication details the controversies and abuse allegations the school has faced over the years. Few years after the school had started its boys facility in 1971, they were under legal trouble after two tweens ran away and ended up seeking protection from a federal court. The original owner of the school, Jack Williams and Robert Crist, had then filed a lawsuit against the boys, which spoke of the education, and "confinement methods" in the school. A permanent injunction was issued by a federal judge, reported the publication, which told Provo Canyon School that they were not allowed to use polygraph tests on the patients, read their mails, use physical force (unless the patient was endangering himself or others) and use isolation (unless a patient was violent).
In the year 1986, the Provo campus was bought by Charter Behavioral Health Systems, who owned the school for 14 years. Under their management, Jeremy Whiteley who was 15 years at the time spoke of how he went willingly to the school after his parents and therapist had asked if he'd like to try out a boarding school. "My dad took me. And basically, after I said goodbye, that’s when the nightmare started. It wasn’t at all what was described to me," said Whiteley. He recounted his experience of being strip-searched and witnessing others being injected with sedatives. While he was initially climbing up in the program, he was taken back down when he attempted to run away, while at a New Hampshire family reunion. After been given medication that he said made him feel "like a zombie", Whiteley's punishment involved him standing against a wall for hours for a number of weeks. He was taken away from Provo two years later by his parents, and Whiteley recalled that the program was a "complete failure" for him. "It was basically almost two years of prison," he said.
In the year 2000, Charter Behavioral Health Systems had filed for bankruptcy, and Provo Canyon School was sold to Universal Health Services, with reports revealing that the company "netted" $11.37 billion in annual revenue in 2019. Regardless, the accounts of allegations didn't die down. The publication reported that six women who had been sent to the school between the years of 2003 and 2017 revealed to them that they too had experienced incidents of being overmedicated, being refrained, and punished for small offenses - this was at the campuses in Springville and Orem. Namely, Kayla Smith was sent to Utah in 2010 when she was just 8 years old. She recounted being strip-searched as well and being locked in an isolation room after she was homesick her first night there. She was also given shots that would make her sleepy. Speaking of her experience, she said, "It’s traumatizing. It’s very scary. Mostly, it just scares you more. You’re already upset. The environment is just making it worse for you.”
On a more disturbing note, a former student Kyra Lewis who attended Provo in 2003 said that physical restraints, although against state rules, "happened all the time." The publication revealed that the injections, which were also too common, had been given the nickname "booty juice". "I still have a problem if I am touched a certain way. It scares me if someone yells at me. We have to find a way to change how we do mental health. Teenagers should not be drugged up and ignored. They are telling the truth, and their perspective is real to them," said Lewis.
These are a few of the many accounts concerning Provo Canyon School'd abuse over the decades, none of which is being spoken about by Adam McClain, the CEO. But, in a statement, he revealed that the school has gone from a “behavior-based foundation” to a “personalized, trauma-informed approach" adding that the facility no longer uses solitary confinement as part of punishment nor uses drugs to discipline its residents.