- Paris Hilton held a press conference to discuss abuse allegations against Provo Canyon School.
- Two families sued the treatment center, alleging it failed to properly care for their injured or sick children.
- Survivors of alleged abuse, families, attorneys and policymakers spoke at the news conference.
Parents of two teenagers sued Provo Canyon School on Monday, alleging it failed to provide medical care for their children who were injured or sick while enrolled at the residential treatment center.
Celebrity entrepreneur Paris Hilton, who has described being abused at the school in the 1990s, joined the teens’ family members, attorney and state Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, at a press conference Monday outside the Provo Historic Courthouse to announce the lawsuits.
Hilton has put a spotlight on Utah over the past several years, leading a protest in 2020 to urge the closing of Provo Canyon School, pushing lawmakers to pass legislation to strengthen regulations for troubled teen centers, and joining McKell in Washington, D.C., to promote industry reform at the national level.
Ownership of the school has changed since Hilton was there. Universal Health Services, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuits, bought the school in 2000.
“When I spoke out, Provo Canyon said that my experience happened under prior ownership and that they were committed to the safety of their patients and staff under their leadership. But records show otherwise, and children are still paying the price,” Hilton said.
An attorney for the families say the facility has a long history of allegations regarding the treatment and supervision of vulnerable children, and raises serious questions about whether the safety and well-being of its residents were given the priority they deserved.
Two new lawsuits
Last month, a 13-year-old boy at the school, identified as “AC” in both court documents and the press conference, “suffered a fractured jaw and intracranial bleeding” after allegedly being slammed onto his head by another student.
Per the court documents, “On May 14, 2026, AC was slammed onto his head by another resident at Provo Canyon School after tensions between the two youths were permitted to escalate in the presence of staff.”
The filing went on: “AC lost consciousness.” It said that “Law enforcement was not immediately contacted, nor was emergency medical assistance promptly summoned. Instead, the response focused on handling the incident internally while a 13-year-old boy with serious injuries awaited medical care.”
At the press conference, AC’s mother, Aleah Corona, expressed frustration and heartache at how the school handled the incident.
“No one bothered to call the ambulance,” she said. “No one bothered to tell me where he was at. No one bothered to call the police, as if my son’s life was of absolutely no value to them.”
Corona said what hurt most was feeling “manipulated into believing that this was a place of healing and safety.” She said she sent AC there “hoping he would learn how to manage the struggles he faces, and instead he experienced things that left him completely more hurt and more angry and more traumatized than before.”
As a result of AC’s case, the Utah Division of Professional Licensing issued Provo Canyon School a conditional license, which expires on June 18, 2026.
A second lawsuit alleges another student at the school, identified in court documents as B.H., complained of vomiting for two weeks straight. The court documents said that “Provo Canyon School’s response was not to call 911, not to summon an ambulance, and not to immediately transfer B.H. to an emergency room. Its response was to administer ibuprofen once daily — a medication that B.H.’s treating physicians at Primary Children’s Hospital subsequently identified as a nephrotoxic agent that contributed to her acute kidney injury."
“By the time she got medical care, she was in kidney failure and will have lifelong treatment and care,” said Alan Mortensen, a lawyer representing the family. Now, she travels four hours round-trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for dialysis three times a week, he said.
Provo Canyon School did not immediately respond to a request from Deseret News for comment Monday.
A media statement on its website updated in July 2025 said, “As related to recent legislation, Provo Canyon School is in support of Utah Senate Bill 127. We are supportive of the additional transparency the legislation requires. As always, our singular goal is student safety. As a matter of policy and procedure, we have always operated within the requirements of our reporting obligations.”
Advocating for change
Hilton’s advocacy for better treatment of youth in behavioral schools has led to passage of 16 state laws, one federal law and one federal bill.
In 2021, the Utah Legislature passed a law, SB127, placing more regulations on “troubled-teen” centers.
“That legislation dramatically increased oversight, restricted the use of restraints, created strict reporting requirements and provided more than $600,000 in ongoing funding so Utah could expand its ability to investigate complaints and monitor facilities,” McKell said.
A year later, lawmakers approved another bill, SB239, “which further strengthened regulation and increased accountability, including enhanced oversight of transportation companies,” he said.
In 2025, the legislature created the Congregate Care Advisory Committee “to continue to bring together experts and stakeholders and advocates to help establish meaningful standards to improve outcomes.”
Other possible incidents
Meg Applegate is the founder and CEO of Unsilenced, a nonprofit that she said is “dedicated to ending institutional child abuse through transparency, accountability and policy change.”
At the press conference, she urged those who have witnessed or experienced abuse at the school to share their stories.
“What you’ve heard these courageous families expose is not an isolated incident. Unsilenced has identified similar experiences, spanning the last 50 plus years of Provo Canyon School’s operation,” she said.
Applegate said people can go to unsilenced.org to complete an experience survey if they have witnessed or experienced abuse, neglect or misconduct at the school.
“The facts are clear. Children are not safe at Provo Canyon School,” Hilton alleged. “Until you shut this facility down, I will keep showing up. I will keep shining a light, and I will not stop, not until every child walks out of Provo Canyon School alive, and not until Provo Canyon School is permanently closed.”