Provo Canyon School

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Provo Canyon School
Address
Map
  • Boy's campus: 4501 North University Ave, Provo, Utah 84604
  • Girl's campus: 763 North 1650 West, Springville, Utah 84663-5066

North central Utah

Utah county

United States
Information
Funding typePrivate
Religious affiliation(s)Nonsectarian
Founded1971[1]
StatusOpen
AdministratorDave Campbell (girls campus)
Grades3 to 12
GenderMales and females
Age8 to 17
Enrollment
  • ~97 (boys campus)[2][3]
  • ~98 (girls campus)[4]
Capacity225 (combined)
Student to teacher ratio
  • ~8:1 (boys campus)[3][2]
  • ~6:1 (girls campus)[4]
LanguageEnglish
Schedule typeDaily bell class rotation
ScheduleMonday through Friday
Hours in school day5.5
Campuses2
Campus typeRural
AccreditationsThe Joint Commission, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Cognia:
WebsiteOfficial website

Provo Canyon School (PCS) is a psychiatric youth involuntary residential treatment center in Provo, Utah, owned and operated by Universal Health Services (UHS) since 2000.[5] The involuntary residential program claims to use an "Acuity Based Care" (ABC) model that identifies and re-assesses the strengths and needs of its students. Residents instead receive a wide range of interventions including psychotropic drug therapy; use of physical restraints; humiliation; starvation; and solitary confinement.[6]

For nearly its entire history, the facility has faced multiple accusations of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of its inmates.[6] These accusations gained renewed attention in 2020 when media personality Paris Hilton released a documentary detailing the abuse she and other former residents claimed to have faced at the facility.[7]

Charter Behavioral Health Systems owned and operated PCS until its bankruptcy in 2000, after which it was sold to UHS.[8]

History[edit]

On the 26th September 1978, The Daily Herald (Utah) reported three adolescents boys had attempted to escape from Provo Canyon School. During their escape, they stole a car which led to a high-speed chase.[9] Also during 1978, a lawsuit was filed by American Civil Liberties Union and Juvenile Justice Advocacy project arguing the people there were being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and denied their constitutional rights. Such as being subjected to mail control and polygraph tests.[10]

In 1986, Provo Canyon school was bought by a company called Charter Behavioral Health Systems.[11]

On the 19th of February 2023, a report was filed with police that 6 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia had been found at the school. Police closed the case due to lack of evidence.[12] On 12th of April 2023, a riot broke out in the living quarters, residents were both staff and each other.

Education[edit]

PCS claims to offer year round academics to all of its residents. The school claims to offer a variety of educational programs to the students including career counseling, competitive sports, special education and more. PCS is fully accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission.

Abuse[edit]

Since its inception, the school has been subject to a large number of individual and class-action lawsuits, particularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s. These lawsuits ranged from verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and medical negligence, to violating students' First Amendment rights and invasion of privacy, to false imprisonment and battery, to intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and loss of parental consortium.[13]

In September 2020, media personality and socialite Paris Hilton premiered her YouTube Originals documentary This Is Paris, in which she attributes her chronic insomnia to PTSD developed as a result of being sent to four different "troubled teen" industry programs: CEDU School in Running Springs, California, Ascent Wilderness Program in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, Cascade School in Whitmore, California, and Provo Canyon School. After escaping from the first three, she spent 11 months at PCS in the late 1990s. Hilton reported that she and other students were physically and psychologically abused.[14][15] Some of the instances she details include how she and the other students were allegedly drugged with unknown medications, how she was allegedly restrained and forcibly transported to the school and how she was strip searched and placed in a seclusion room for nearly twenty-four hours. She describes PCS as "the worst of the worst" of all troubled youth facilities.[16][17][18]

In October 2020, tattoo artist and television personality Kat Von D alleged her parents sent her to the school for a three-week program, but she was ultimately there for six months. She claimed to witness students being force-fed medications, sedated, and isolated. Von D said that she left with "major PTSD and other traumas due to the unregulated, unethical and abusive protocols of this 'school'" and wrote that she couldn't "call them schools because they're not schools they're fucking lockdown facilities". Von D said that she was "spared of the sexual abuse and the physical abuse" but "definitely saw" it happen.[19]

On October 9, 2020, Hilton and a group of friends who attended PCS with her led a silent protest with hundreds of other protesters through the streets and neighborhoods of Provo, Utah to bring awareness to the facility.[20]

Notable staff[edit]

Robert Lichfield - Founder of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.[21]

Dr. D. Eugene Thorne - As head of Brigham Young University's psychology department, conducted electro-shock and vomiting aversion therapy experiments on gay and lesbian students.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Caring for kids with special needs: Residential treatment programs for children and adolescents. Princeton, NJ: Peterson's. 1993. p. 446. ISBN 9781560791683.
  2. ^ a b "Provo Canyon School-provo Campus Profile (2021–22) | Provo, UT". Private School Review. December 24, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Explore Provo Canyon School – Provo Campus". Niche.
  4. ^ a b "Explore Provo Canyon School – Orem Campus". Niche.
  5. ^ "Provo canyon School Media Statement - Updated August 2021" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b Miller, Jessica (September 20, 2020). "Provo Canyon School's history of abuse accusations spans decades, far beyond Paris Hilton". The Salt Lake City Tribune. ISSN 0746-3502.
  7. ^ Craft, Will (June 23, 2021). "The teen got a concussion. The school got a pass". APM Reports.
  8. ^ Story, Louise (August 17, 2005). "A Business Built on the Troubles of Teenagers". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522.
  9. ^ "3 Juveniles Apprehended After High Speed Chase". Daily Herald (Utah). September 26, 1978. ISSN 0891-2777. OCLC 52526615.
  10. ^ "Provo Canyon School 10/6/1981". The Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1981. p. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  11. ^ "Provo Canyon School's history of abuse accusations spans decades, far beyond Paris Hilton". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  12. ^ "Provo Canyon School staffer died after campus assault — one of several recent police calls to Springville facility, records show". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  13. ^ "The Cases Against Provo Canyon School". HEAL Online.
  14. ^ Yasharoff, Hannah. "After alleging abuse at her old school, Paris Hilton isn't backing down". USA Today. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  15. ^ Nolan, Emma (January 19, 2022). "Paris Hilton Reveals 'Living Nightmare' of Provo Canyon School in Podcast". Newsweek. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  16. ^ Leasca, Stacey (August 22, 2020). "Paris Hilton Breaks Silence Over Abuse She Claims She Experienced at Boarding School". Yahoo Life. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  17. ^ Kaufman, Amy (September 25, 2020). "Surviving abuse bonded Paris Hilton and these four women for life". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 2165-1736. OCLC 3638237.
  18. ^ Dunphey, Kyle (May 12, 2022). "After championing teen treatment reform in Utah, Paris Hilton meets with Congress to push for national oversight". Deseret News. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  19. ^ Ushe, Naledi (October 6, 2020). "Kat Von D says she went to same 'tortuous' boarding school as Paris Hilton, suffered 'major PTSD'". Fox News. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  20. ^ Corinthios, Aurelie (October 9, 2020). "Paris Hilton Planning Peaceful Protest of Utah School with Survivors of Alleged Abuse". People. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  21. ^ "Key to His School's Success? Its God, Founder Says". The Los Angeles Times. July 13, 2003. p. 21. ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  22. ^ "Nothing to Hide? What it means to be gay at BYU". Salt Lake City Weekly. July 7, 2001. Retrieved January 10, 2024.

External links[edit]

40°10′40″N 111°38′21″W / 40.17778°N 111.63917°W / 40.17778; -111.63917

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