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Provo Canyon School
Residential treatment center in Utah, US From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.[7] 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.
For nearly its entire history, the facility has faced multiple accusations of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of its residents.[8] 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.[9]
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History
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On September 26, 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.[10] Also during 1978, a lawsuit was filed by American Civil Liberties Union and Juvenile Justice Advocacy project arguing the students there were being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and denied their constitutional rights. Their allegations included being subjected to mail control and polygraph tests.[11]
In April 1979, D. Eugene Thorne became the executive director of Provo Canyon school.[12]
In 1986, Provo Canyon school was bought by a company called Charter Behavioral Health Systems.[13] The company filed for bankruptcy in 2000, after which PCS was sold to Universal Health Services.[14]
On February 19, 2023, a report was filed with police that 6 grams of methamphetamine, as well as drug paraphernalia, had been found at the school. Police closed the case due to lack of evidence.[15]
On March 27, 2023 police were called following a fight that injured three people, including a staff member, 58 year old Dennis Torrens. Police stated Torrens had been "sucker punched" by a male student, and Torrens had to undergo surgery to address the injuries. Torrens later died, and police opened an investigation to determine if the assault was connected to his death.[15]
On April 4, 2023, a sexual assault that occurred at the school was reported to police, following a referral from The Division of Child and Family Services.[15]
On April 12, 2023, police were called to the school after a riot broke out in the living quarters. When speaking to authorities, a member of staff claimed that female students were attempting to break through the windows using chairs, and that eight girls had been put in restraints. One member of staff was injured during the riot, and eight students were held in police custody overnight, before being released back into the school's care the following day.[15]
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Education
PCS claims to offer year round academics to all of its residents, as well as 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
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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.[16]
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.[17][18] 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.[19][20][21]
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 could not "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.[22]
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.[23]
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Notable staff
Robert Lichfield - Founder of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.[24]
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.[25] He was also a psychologist and attorney for the Challenger Foundation.[26]
Dr. Robert Crist - One of the original founders of Provo Canyon School. Dr. Crist later went on to open Logan River Academy in Logan, Utah in 2000 after PCS was acquired by Universal Health Services.[27][28][29]
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References
External links
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