Former actress Paris Hilton once attended Utah’s Provo Canyon School, which is being scrutinized for its brutality.
‘Teen Torture, Inc.’ is a Max documentary that delves into the horrific stories of torture at these camps, which are said to house about 100,000 American youngsters. Particularly vulnerable teens are frequently coerced into programs, and the camp is subject to lax rules and provides few safeguards for them.
As Robison, her boyfriend, and their small daughter try to put their lives back together at their home in southern Oregon, the documentary follows them. Robison talks about her depressed and difficult upbringing in California. Her parents sent her to Provo Canyon School after she attempted suicide in 2003 when she was fourteen years old. She states that she tried to kill herself due to the harsh environment at the camp and the fact that she was strip-searched upon arrival. She and other teenagers were administered Haldol by injection by staff members on a daily or even hourly basis. The drug is designed to treat adolescents with behavioral and psychiatric issues; nevertheless, it frequently causes unpleasant side effects like drooling, muscular spasms, and a lock jaw.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services has issued a license to Provo Canyon School, which denies employing solitary confinement. During his time as an adolescent in the Mississippi institution Bethel Boys Academy, Allen Knoll recounts being subjected to waterboarding. The founder of the Bethel Boys Academy, Herman Fountain, was accused by Esther Fountain, who describes her father as a “con artist” capable of “manipulating people and getting away with it,” of frequently “beating” the boys.
‘The Program,’ a new Netflix documentary series, features Nathaniel Lichfield describing his father, Narvin, as ‘a man with two faces’ and making statements similar to Hilton’s. Several female students at Narvin’s South Carolina institution have spoken out about the psychological and physical abuse they endured there.
Title IV-B provides states with funding for community-based, prevention-oriented programs that help foster children find permanent homes or reunite with their families. Last month, Hilton testified before Congress, emphasizing the need to end abuse in youth treatment facilities and calling for the program’s reauthorization and reform. After its expiration in 2021, Congress began considering options to update the program.
