Signage for the Provo Canyon School in Springville, Utah, is pictured Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah health officials have revoked the residential treatment license for Provo Canyon School's Provo campus, ordering the facility to stop providing services by Aug. 16.
The decision announced Friday by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services marks another major step in the state's enforcement actions against the facility, which has faced years of scrutiny over allegations of abuse and mistreatment.
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The department's Division of Licensing and Background Checks previously placed the Provo campus under strict licensing conditions in June. Officials said the facility must now cease operations by Aug. 16, while state inspectors will continue monitoring the campus at least once a week until it closes.
If additional concerns are identified during those inspections, the department said it will conduct further investigations.
"No child should be hurt in a program that is meant to protect them; particularly programs that require the authorization of the state to operate," said Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the Division of Licensing and Background Checks. "It is our job to make sure that programs comply with administrative rules and regulations designed to provide a healthy and safe environment for those in care. These rules and regulations are fundamental safeguards to protect vulnerable people being served in facilities or programs."
The Provo campus is licensed separately from Provo Canyon School's Springville campus. State officials issued a license revocation letter for the Springville campus on July 6.
Paris Hilton, who has publicly shared allegations that she was abused while attending Provo Canyon School as a teenager, celebrated the announcement.
"Today, I can finally say the words I've been fighting to say for years: Provo Canyon School is officially shut down," Hilton said in a statement.
Hilton said the state determined both the boys' and girls' campuses were not safe for children and called the closure "the end" of what she described as "this horrific chapter of abuse, neglect, and trauma."
She also reflected on standing outside the facility with other survivors in 2020, saying the school "covered the windows so the children inside couldn't see that survivors were outside fighting for them."
"They could block the children's view of us, but they couldn't stop what was coming," Hilton said.
Hilton vowed to continue advocating for reforms at youth treatment facilities.
"I will never stop fighting until every child is safe and every abusive facility is held accountable," she said. "If you are hurting children, know this: survivors are coming, we are not backing down, and we will not stop until all youth are safe."
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services said additional details about the decision are outlined in its Notice of Agency Action.
Hilton isn’t the only one with positive feelings about the license revocation.
“It’s been jubilation,” said Kane Webb.
Webb, as he goes by now, was also a student at the Provo campus. He described his experience with one word: “It was horrible. It truly was horrible,” he said.
He recalled experiencing and witnessing all kinds of physical and mental abuse, which had a lasting effect on him.
“Kids leave there a shell of themselves,” he said. “I know it took me almost 10 years post-Provo to try and figure out what my life was going to be: Who am I? Am I what Provo said I am? Or am I more than that?”
Now that Utah health officials have revoked the licenses for both the Springville and Provo campuses, Webb hopes it’s a step in the right direction, not just for kids at these campuses, but for the entire troubled teen industry.
But he feels there’s still more to do.
“Provo may go somewhere, but the [Troubled Teen Industry] industry is only growing,” he said.
He said there needs to be an independent entity that investigates complaints made by the kids.
"Kids need to be able to go to an independent organization and be able to say, 'Hey, listen. This happened here, I was abused here, this is how,’” Webb said.
He feels it would be a critical next step in finding and fixing problems in the industry.
“These institutions don’t help. They only hurt,” Webb said.
Webb said former Provo Canyon students have a Facebook group where people can share their stories and find support.
2News reached out to the school for a statement, but didn’t hear back.