Provo Canyon School (PCS) is a private, for-profit residential treatment center for children and adolescents located in Provo and Springville, Utah. Since its founding in 1971, the facility has been the subject of extensive allegations, investigations, and litigation related to the treatment of residents, including claims of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, which have been reported by former students, journalists, and advocacy organizations.
On September 26, 1978, The Daily Herald (Utah) reported three adolescent boys had attempted to escape from Provo Canyon School. During their escape, they stole a car which led to a high-speed chase.[7] 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.[8]
In April 1979, D. Eugene Thorne became the executive director of Provo Canyon school.[9]
On October. 9, 2020 a silent protest was organized and held outside PCS It was attended former alumni including Paris Hilton.[12]
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.[13]
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, requiring surgery to address the injuries. Torrens later died, and police opened an investigation to determine if the assault was connected to his death.[13]
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.[13]
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 staff member 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.[13]
Education
PCS claims to offer year-round academics to all of its residents, as well as a variety of other educational programs to its students including career counseling, competitive sports, and special education. PCS is fully accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission.
Abuse
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, 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.[14]
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.[15][16] Hilton alleged that she and other students were administered unknown medication without informed consent, subjected to physical restraint, and forcibly transported to the facility by a teen escort company, a practice commonly used within the troubled teen industry. She further stated that upon arrival she was subjected to a strip search and placed in a seclusion room for nearly twenty-four hours. Hilton later described Provo Canyon School as “the worst of the worst” among the youth residential programs she attended.[17][18][19]
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 was ultimately held 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.[20]
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 about the facility.[21]
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.[23] He was also a psychologist and attorney for the Challenger Foundation.[24]
Robert Crist - One of the founders of Provo Canyon School. Crist later went on to open Logan River Academy in Logan, Utah in 2000 after PCS was acquired by Universal Health Services.[25][26][27]
References
↑Caring for kids with special needs: Residential treatment programs for children and adolescents. Princeton, NJ: Peterson's. 1993. p.446. ISBN9781560791683.
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