Paris Hilton, Lawmakers Introduce New Bill Aimed at Stopping Institutional Child Abuse

Paris Hilton speaks to the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Standing Committee at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Feb. 8, 2021. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)

TV personality Paris Hilton joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers and abuse survivors on Capitol Hill on April 27 to introduce a new bill aimed at preventing the abuse of children in institutional care.

Hilton joined Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), as well as Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), in introducing the “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.”

Speaking at the Capitol, Hilton cited her own alleged experience of physical and mental abuse at “troubled teen” facilities when she was younger, adding that the new legislation was only possible because lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had chosen to listen to abuse survivors.

“This issue is deeply personal for me,” Hilton said. “From the ages of 16 to 18, I was sent to four troubled teen industry facilities, each one more horrific than the last. I witnessed and experienced sexual abuse from adult staff as well as endured verbal and emotional abuse daily. I was yelled at, dehumanized, silenced, and stripped of any semblance of privacy.”

“When I attempted to tell my parents about the abuse on the phone, staff would stop and immediately hang up the phone and punish me. On top of this, you had no access to the outside doors, no sunlight, no fresh air,” she continued. “These were considered privileges. What I went through will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Hilton went on to allege that she had been medically sedated, forcibly restrained, and watched by male members of staff as she showered, and that her parents were completely oblivious to the abuse she was being subjected to at various facilities.

“One of many issues with these programs is that parents sign away all their rights and know nothing about what is going on. My family was lied to and manipulated just like so many other families,” she added.

Bill Details

Hilton alleged in a 2020 documentary titled “This Is Paris” that she had been the victim of emotional and physical abuse as a teenager while attending a boarding school in Utah.

She later testified at a state Senate committee hearing at the Utah Capitol, telling lawmakers that she was mentally and physically abused on a daily basis at Provo Canyon School for 11 months at age 17.

In a statement (pdf), the school said that it was sold by its previous owner in August 2000. “We therefore cannot comment on the operations or student experience prior to that time,” the statement adds.

According to a press release from Merkley’s office, the “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act” is aimed at bolstering oversight and data transparency for institutional youth treatment programs across the United States and would implement urgent recommendations to allow for increased data sharing among states while promoting best practices for identifying and ending institutional child abuse.

It would also establish a “Federal Work Group on Youth Residential Programs” to collect data and conduct research on federal youth programs.

Additionally, the bill would direct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the use of restraints, seclusion, and other “restrictive interventions” in youth residential programs.

‘Our Children Deserve Better’

The legislation is supported by an array of experts, advocates, and organizations representing survivors of institutional abuse in youth residential programs, according to officials.

Speaking at Thursday’s press conference at the Capitol, Merkley credited Hilton for being the “driving national force” behind the effort to prevent the abuse of minors in institutional care.

“No matter who they are, or their individual circumstances, children deserve to be treated with love, with compassion, with care and understanding,” he said. “But when it comes to institutional care, we discover that too often, without oversight, love, and compassion are in short supply.”

The senator went on to explain that roughly $23 billion a year in public funds go toward financing residential institutions for children and around 60,000 minors are in such care settings, with “virtually no oversight whatsoever.”

Merkley pointed to a string of recent investigations that have uncovered abuse at multiple facilities throughout the United States such as sexual abuse, forced isolation, and failure to provide adequate medical care or evidence-based treatment.

While he and other lawmakers stressed that not all children in such facilities are subjected to abuse, many cases simply go unheard.

“This is not acceptable, our children deserve better,” he added.

Merkley stated that lawmakers will be back at the Capitol in 2024 to discuss the next steps for the legislation after gathering more information on how oversight at children’s institutional care facilities should be established.