Utah revokes Provo Canyon School campus license

Utah regulators have revoked the license of a Provo Canyon School campus where Paris Hilton has said she was abused as a teenager, ordering the facility to end all services by Aug. 6 after citing failures in health and safety care.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services said Provo Canyon School’s Springville campus “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.” The revocation took effect Monday, and the school has 15 days to request a hearing to challenge the decision.

State regulators cited multiple noncompliance issues dating to 2025, including failure to increase staff-to-client ratios, unnecessary restraint, aggressive physical contact with a client, neglect of care, and delays in verifying employee information or submitting background checks for applicants. Health officials had imposed temporary restrictions on the school in May, saying staff did not seek immediate medical care for a student with serious injuries.

Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday that the facility must close by Aug. 6 and that its owners “may not reapply for a new license for five years.” She said the department continues to “conduct weekly inspections and monitor for rule compliance.”

“It is actually incredibly unsafe if we were to go in and just stick a sign on the door and say, ‘Everybody out,’” Thoman-Black said. “We have the responsibility to make sure these kids get discharged into safe places.”

Provo Canyon School said it disagrees with the decision and is considering its next steps.

“We disagree with the state’s decision to revoke Provo Canyon School’s Springville Campus license and are evaluating all available legal and administrative options, including an appeal,” the school said in a statement to CBS News. “As this is an ongoing matter, we are limited in what we can say at this time. Our priority remains providing safe, high-quality care and support for adolescents and their families, and we remain committed to serving those in need.”

The Springville facility is described on the school’s website as a psychiatric residential treatment center for girls ages 12 to 18. CBS News reported that Provo Canyon School, now under different ownership than when Hilton attended, describes itself as a psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth ages 12 to 18.

Hilton, 45, spent nearly a year at the school in the late 1990s. She has alleged that staff members beat her, watched her shower, gave her unknown pills and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing. The BBC reported that Hilton has also said she was physically assaulted, made to take medication and placed in solitary confinement in programs intended to reform her behavior.

“The news I’ve been fighting and praying for is finally here,” Hilton wrote on social media Tuesday. “Last night, the State of Utah officially revoked Provo Canyon School’s Springville campus license. After years of survivors bravely speaking out and refusing to be silenced, the children inside will finally be removed.”

In a statement to the BBC, Hilton said: “For more than fifty years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect, and trauma. Today, the state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care. I was one of those children.”

She added: “I know what it feels like to cry for help and believe no-one is coming. Today, children still inside that facility know someone is finally coming to protect them.”

Hilton has testified about her experiences before Congress and state legislatures, helping pass laws intended to protect teens in Utah and 15 other states. In June, she returned to the school to support two families who filed lawsuits alleging their children were mistreated there.

The BBC reported that Utah officials also imposed temporary restrictions in June on Provo Canyon School’s boys’ campus in Provo after an inquiry found staff failed to protect a boy during a fight and did not seek immediate medical care for his injuries. The boys’ campus says on its website that it continues to serve those in its care but is not accepting new admissions.