Provo Canyon School (1971-present) Provo, UT

Residential Treatment Center

History and Background Information

Provo Canyon School is a Universal Health Services behavior-modification program that was founded in 1971. It was initially opened in Provo, UT as an all-boys facility by Robert Crist and Jack Williams, but PCS opened two girls’ program in the nearby town of Orem, UT and in 2005, Springville, UT. It is marketed as a Residential Treatment Center for teenagers aged 11-17. PCS states that it enrolls teenagers with a history of the following: Substance Abuse Behavior, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity, Anxiety & Trauma Disorders, Social Developmental Disorders, Conduct & Impulsive Behavior, Mood Disorders, Including Bipolar & Depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Personality Disorders (Including: Borderline, Dependent, Histrionic, and Obsessive-Compulsive), Reactive Attachment Disorder, and more. The average length of stay is reported to be between 8 and 12 months but it is often substantially longer, especially if the teenager is deemed resistant. Provo Canyon School’s tuition is reported to be over $12,500 per month.

Provo Canyon School operates in a number of campuses. The original all-boys program is located at 4501 N University Ave, Provo, UT 84604. The all-girls program was originally located at 1350 E 750 N St, Orem, UT 84097. However, in 2005 PCS built a new campus for the girls program, which is currently located at 763 N 1650 W, Springville, UT 84663. The former location of the Girl Campus is now the location of Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital which is another all-girls program (with a small program for prepubescent boys on the first floor). Between these campuses, Provo Canyon School can enroll a maximum of 248 teenagers. These campuses are each divided between younger teenagers (aged 13-18) and older teenagers (aged 11-14). There is also an Elementary School program for children aged 8-13.

In 1986, PCS was bought by Charter Behavioral Health Systems. This company, once the nation’s largest operator of psychiatric hospitals and treatment centers, would own PCS for the next 14 years. Around 1999, Provo Canyon School’s parent company came under intense scrutiny, facing allegations of Medicaid fraud and media reports of inappropriate treatment and inadequate care at Charter-owned facilities across the country. Charter Behavioral Health Systems filed for bankruptcy in 2000, and several months later sold a dozen of their programs — including Provo Canyon School — to Universal Health Services. Universal Health Services continues to own PCS to this day. Universal Health Services also purchased and continued to operate many of the notoriously abusive CEDU schools after CEDU collapsed in 2005.

Provo Canyon School was a member of NATSAP and had been since 2005. It appears that the school is no longer a member of NATSAP. It is accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS), however, it is important to note that neither the United States Department of Education nor the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognizes the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools as an accrediting agency for institutions of higher education. In fact, NAAS is most well-known in the public for the State of New York not accepting the diplomas given by the Academy at Ivy Ridge, which was a confirmedly abusive WWASP program which was also accredited by NAAS. NAAS has “accredited” many notoriously abusive behavior-modification programs, including many WWASP programs.

Founders and Notable Staff

Provo Canyon School is considered something of a “hub” in the Troubled Teen Industry. Many of the individuals who work in the industry either began their careers or spent a number of years working at Provo Canyon School. Provo Canyon School is considered to be the birthplace of the WWASP organization, as WWASP’s founders and many of its staff members came from PCS.

Robert H. Crist is one of the Founders of Provo Canyon School. He also worked at PCS for many years as the Medical Director. In 2000, Crist left PCS to create his own behavior-modification program, Logan River Academy, with another PCS staff, Larry Carter. He was also involved in creating Silverado Academy with former Provo Canyon School CEO Kreg Gillan, which was shut down in 2016 following reported instances of sexual abuse.

Jack Williams is one of the Founders of Provo Canyon School.

Robert B. Lichfield worked at Provo Canyon School for many years in numerous positions (source). He began working at PCS as a “dorm parent” in 1977 (source) and fulfilled various roles at the school until he left to create Cross Creek, the first of Lichfield’s WWASP programs. WWASP was a notoriously abusive organization created by Lichfield in 1998. WWASP owned many behavior-modification programs across the world which were shut down due to countless instances of extreme abuse and neglect.

Karr Fransworth is reported to have worked at Provo Canyon School with Robert Lichfield. The two worked together for many years, before Lichfield decided to create his own chain of behavior-modification programs called WWASP. He later went on to work in various roles at WWASP, even serving as the organization’s President. WWASP is a notoriously abusive organization which owned many behavior-modification programs which were shut down due to countless instances of extreme abuse and neglect.

Kreg Gillman was the CEO of Provo Canyon School from 2003 until 2006. He had previously worked as the Chief Executive/Managing Director of Aspen Healthcare Services from 1998 until 2003. In 2006, he helped PCS Co-Founder Robert Crist create Silverado Academy, which was shut down in 2016 following reported instances of sexual abuse. From 2011 until 2013, he worked as the Clinical Director of Redcliff Ascent. He currently works as the CEO of Universal Health Services – Salt Lake Behavioral Health.

Larry Carter is reported to have worked as a Therapist at Provo Canyon School for 13 years. In 2000, he and Robert Crist left PCS to create their own behavior-modification program, Logan River Academy.

Adam McClain is the current Group Director and CEO of Provo Canyon School. He is reported to have worked at various other confirmedly abusive programs, including as the Clinical Director of Peninsula Village from 2003-2008, and the Executive Director of Northwest Academy, which was a WWASP program.

Barry Woodward was the CEO of the Provo Canyon School. He was appointed to this position in 2000. He is also reported to have worked at Olympus View Hospital, prior to working at Provo Canyon School. He later worked as the CEO of Copper Hills Youth Center.

Dennis Eugene Thorne was the Co-Owner of Provo Canyon School from 1978 until 1986. In 1989, he and left PCS to create Discovery Academy along with fellow PCS employees Robert Crist and Brent Hall. He passed away unexpectedly on December 19, 2018, at the age of 84. The link to his obituary is provided.

Ron S. Tuinei worked at Provo Canyon School from 2016 until 2020 as the Program Director, and later, the Executive Director. He began his career in the TTI working as a Program Supervisor at the reportedly abusive Heritage RTC from 1993 until 2010. He also worked as a Counselor at Slate Canyon Youth Center from 2002 until 2003. He then went on to work as the Program Director and Risk Management Director at Cottonwood Treatment Center from 2010 until 2013. He then worked as the Program Director of the Oakley School, a reportedly abusive Aspen Education Group program. He then went on to work as the CEO of Copper Hills Youth Center in January of 2020, where he currently still works.

Megan L. Hamblin worked at Provo Canyon School in the 1990’s. In 1985, her license as a Registered Nurse was suspended for 3 years by the Division of Occupational & Professional Licensing due to abuse of controlled substances. It was reinstated in 1987.

Katie Jochum worked as Provo Canyon School’s Director of Business Development. She formerly worked at the CEDU schools, headquarted in Sandpoint, ID. She later worked as the Director of Outreach and Business Development at Boulder Creek Academy (a CEDU school) from 2018-2019. She currently works for InnerChange, a division of Embark Behavioral Health.

Brent Esplin worked at Provo Canyon School as a Therapist and the Admissions Director from 2007 until 2012. Before coming to PCS, he had worked as a Therapist and later as the Clinical Director of Red Rock Canyon School. From 2012 until 2016 he worked as the Director of Intake at Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital in Orem, UT. He has also worked as a Therapist at Telos RTC. He currently works as the Executive Director of Embark at Hobble Creek, which is an Embark Behavioral Health program.

Sam Hill worked as the Program Director of the Girls program from 1990 until 2012. He then went on to work at Youth Care as a Therapist from 2012 until 2015. He currently works as a Therapist at Daniels Academy.

Jennifer Morgan Smith has worked at Provo Canyon School since 1998 in various roles, including Therapist, Executive Clinical Director, Director of Admissions, and Executive Director. She currently works as the Executive Director of Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital.

Wade Taylor has worked as a Therapist at Provo Canyon School’s boys program since 2001. Before coming to PCS, he worked as a Therapist at Aspen Ranch, a reportedly abusive Aspen Education Group program. In 2015, he was named in a lawsuit against both Provo Canyon School and Island View RTC alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duties.

Marcie Remington worked as a Therapist at Provo Canyon School. She has also worked as a Therapist at Utah Boys Ranch and for the Utah Department of Corrections.

Program Structure

PCS utilizes an “Acuity Based Care” (ABC) model that “identifies and re-assesses the strengths and needs of individual students.” The school’s methods are considered to be a “tough love” approach: enrollees are challenged to “acknowledge self destructive behaviors and grow beyond them”, and this process may require constant supervision and intervention. Upon entering the program, residents are stripped of their identites and given a number. They are referred to by their numbers in the program, and are not allowed to use their names. All communication with parents is heavily restricted and monitored. Incoming and outgoing mail is read by staff and censored, and phone calls with parents are all closely monitored by staff.

Like other behavior-modification programs, Provo Canyon School uses a level system consisting of eight levels. The levels are reported to be:

Orientation: When a teenager arrives ar PCS, they are put onto Orientation. They are given no privileges. It is reported that this level typically lasts around 2 weeks.
Pre-team: no additional information
Team: This is reported to be the first level where teenagers are permitted to have any type of contact with their family.
Advanced Team: It is reported that on this level, residents are allowed to leave campus with their team for off-campus excursions.
Achievement: no additional information
Advanced Achievement: no additional information
Senior: no additional information
Advanced Senior: no additional information

There is also a level called Investment which is used a punishment. Students accumulated “investment points” for offenses as minor as being late in line for dinner or talking back. If they accumulated too many of these points, they were put into the Investment Unit, where they were forced to sit do nothing but still perfectly still in a chair all day. If they were uncooperative, they would be kept in concrete 5×5 isolation rooms on what was called Observation. Observation is PCS’s nickname for solitary confinement. Some teens would be in solitary confinement for weeks or months straight.

When Provo Canyon School first opened, its behavior-modification program included excessive physical restraint, physical punishment, isolation from the outside world, progressive restoration of liberty, lie detectors, monitoring of personal communication and administration of drugs. However, a 1979 permanent court injunction specifically prohibited Provo Canyon School and Crist from:

opening, reading, monitoring or censoring the boys’ mail;
administering polygraph examinations for any purpose whatsoever;
placing boys in isolation facilities for any reason other than to contain a boy who is physically violent; and
using physical force for any purpose other than to restrain a juvenile who is either physically violent and immediately dangerous to himself or others or physically resisting institutional rules. (source)

However, it has been reported by numerous survivors who were at PCS after this injunction that the program has found numerous ways to get around these rules. Isolation and violent physical restraints are still reported to be staples of PCS’s program.

In 2005, PCS also opened a program called Somerset/Academy at Canyon Creek, which was targeted towards a younger age group.

Rules and Punishments

If a resident breaks any of the rules at PCS, they are punished severely. Punishments include loss of levels and privileges, solitary confinement, violent restraint, and being put on “investment”.

Investment: Students accumulated “investment points” for offenses as minor as being late in line for dinner or talking back. If they accumulated too many of these points, they were put into the Investment Unit, and forced to sit in “Chair Structure”, which means that they had to remain completely still with their feet flat on the floor. How long the resident had to remain in Investment was dependent on how many points that had accumulated and the “class” of their infraction. For example, a Class II infraction may result in a few hours of Investment, whereas a Class III infraction may result in day to weeks in Investment. The students were forced to wear sweatpants and were not allowed any of their personal items.
Observation: If they were uncooperative, they would be kept in concrete 5×5 isolation rooms on what was called Observation or “Obs”. Observation is PCS’s nickname for solitary confinement. Some teens would be in solitary confinement for weeks or months straight. According to one survivor, “OBs was a concrete room in investment. It had a drain or at least the one I was in- there were two. It was a “quiet room” I guess. It had this big thick door. It had mirrors in the corners so you couldn’t hide from the camera or if someone was looking in the little window that was like safety chickenwire glass. I stayed there once for three days straight, with once a day let out to use the restroom connected to it to have a bowel movement. I used the drain for the other.. I had no clothing while in obs, wore none, it was reallly cold and I slept on the concrete floor. They also took my glasses and I couldn’t see. I am legally blind without them so I got immense headaches. I was allowed two meals though a day in Obs (though I didn’t eat them) and no silverware, not even plastic. Sometimes I could see someone watching through the window. I didn’t know if it was night or day in it, and I kinda talked to myself during it.”
Dial 9: “Dial 9” is the code PCS staff use for restraint. Staffers use walkie-talkies to “dial 9” when they perceive a child to be acting out. When a “dial 9” is called, the other students have to turn and face the wall so they won’t see what one survivor described as “three large men coming to restrain a 120-pound girl” and bring her to an observation cell (solitary confinement). It is reported that these restraints are often used very excessively, and typically result in the child be severely injured. There have been reports of major bruising, abrasions, and even broken noses resulting from these restraints. A former staffer at PCS confirmed this. The staffer, who primarily worked at the boy’s unit, said one violent “Dial 9” caused him to become so uncomfortable he quit his job. “Staff would tackle kids — I can’t tell you how many times I saw that. One incident involved an African American boy at the school during my time. A staff member woke him up at 3 a.m. because he forgot to take his meds. The kid didn’t like getting woken up in the middle of the night, and the staff ended up calling a ‘Dial 9’ and tackled him,” the staffer said. He further claimed: “We all had to go and watch staff pin this kid down, drag him to isolation. The guy who beat him was my boss. This was 100% instigated by staff. A bully picking on a defenseless little kid. I ended up quitting two weeks later.”

Abuse and Lawsuits

Provo Canyon School is widely regarded as a very abusive behavior-modification program. Many survivors report widespread physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at PCS. In addition, PCS has been reported by many survivors to severely overmedicate teenagers and keep them in solitary confinement for months at a time. Many survivors report that they have developed PTSD or C-PTSD resulting from their time at Provo Canyon School. Utah’s Office of Licensing, which provides oversight to youth residential treatment centers, has conducted 341 investigations in the past five years alone at Provo Canyon School’s four campuses. In these cases, regulators “substantiated” 27 violations, according to the department.

Provo Canyon School has had a long and well-supported history of abuse, beginning only a few years after it first opened in 1971. PCS was shut down and quickly reopened by Crist and Williams in 1974 due to child abuse and neglect. A few years later, two teens sent there by their home state’s juvenile justice system ran away — one was from Alaska, the other from Nevada — and sought protection from the federal courts. They filed a lawsuit against the original owners (Jack Williams and Robert Crist) challenging the school’s education, treatment and confinement methods. Jurors returned a verdict favoring Provo Canyon School after a lengthy trial in 1980, but a federal judge issued a permanent injunction banning the school from using polygraph tests on the boys, opening and reading their mail, using isolation for any reason other than to contain a boy who was violent, and prohibited physical force from being used to restrain a boy unless he was an immediate danger to himself or others. It is reported that Provo Canyon School was forced to close briefly in the late 1970s, but quickly reopened and resumed operations.

Several individual and class-action lawsuits were filed against the school during the 1980s and 1990s, alleging abuse, violation of the detained teenagers’ First Amendment rights, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, medical negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, loss of parental consortium, and battery. Some suits were dismissed due to the statute of limitation (four years), but in at least three cases Provo Canyon School was judged to have fraud, medical negligence, false imprisonment, breach of fiduciary duty, and gross negligence (Taylor v. Provo Canyon School), of cruel and unusual punishment, antitherapeutic and inhumane treatment, and denial of due process of law (Milonas and Rice v. Provo Canyon School). This would eventually lead to the closing of the facility’s parent company, Charter Medical Corporation (not to be confused with Charter Medical, a pharmaceutical company). The Human Rights Organization HEAL has compiled a document of all of the cases against Provo Canyon School, which can be found here.

In 2004, a excerpts from a complaint filed against PCS was published to Fornits. It reads as follows: “The actual report is ten pages long – this is a brief summary:

Dear Gentlepersons involved in the welfare and protection of children in Utah and United States of America: As a licensed professional, Registered Nurse, under duty of obligation under the laws of California I am writing this to document and report suspected and actual child abuse both physical, emotional, psychological, sexual as well as the suspected and actual abuse of children in the custody and care of (staff) at Provo Canyon School. My daughter described the following abuse of:

A. M., age 15, INVESTMENT UNIT – Her nose was broken from being slammed against the floor prior to a forced injection of the drug Haldol. She was isolated in the observation unit. This area is 5X5, concrete walls and floors. Staff make this room cold by turning up the air conditioner. A.M now walks around like a zombie from being drugged.
T.S. 16, INVESTMENT UNIT – claimed T.S. was the most abused of all, forced to remain isolated in the cold obs unit most of the day. Staff called it her “home.”
A.S., 15, witness to abuse of others. Also given overdose of Haldol, excessive time in obs unit.
C.D., 17, INVESTMENT UNIT, overdose of Haldol, isolated in obs 10 hours.
five African American girls (names unknown) treated with similar harshness and isolation
Could hear 12 and 13 year old boys screaming in pain and terror night and day.

SUMMARY OF ABUSE SUFFERED BY OUR CHILD:Assault, battery, hair pulled, restrained against her will, drugged with an overdose of Haldol which caused her to black out and wake to blindness, facial paralysis and pain, drooling and lethargy for three days. Imprisoned and forced to sit in structure (staring strait ahead) for up to 5 hours. Woke to vaginal bleeding and wet pants on the morning after Haldol injection. CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATED: Freedom of speech and religion, right to safe and humane treatment, prevented from writing grievances and punished for suggesting that others write grievances. Punished with isolation and seclusion for an entire week for venting about her abuse and mistreatment in a group therapy session on December 13. Apparently the detective who investigated this for one week, and the Utah Valley District Attorney do not believe these acts are abuse. We were told by cell-phone message on or about January 10, that the case was going to be closed because the attorneys from the Utah Valley DA believed that these abuses were not criminal-but contractual and civil in nature. This only leads one to believe, or fear, that here are economic and political reasons for this and that the police cover for this school. We doubt that any of the children mentioned were privately interviewed. From what we experienced this school does a very good job of hiding and minimizing abuses. A full investigation and examination of the children being imprisoned in the Investment Unit and Observation Units must be done to prevent further abuse We hope something will be done to determine the extent of abuse at Provo Canyon School. PLEASE PROTECT THESE CHILDREN.

Families, patients and the government are paying up to $12,000 per month for treatment and education at this school. All families must be notified if abuse is occurring. Reason would dictate that abuse is also occurring in the boy’s facility. To keep children in this facility parents are routinely warned by therapists that their children are being manipulative and will say anything to be sent home. Regardless of the reasons children are at Provo Canyon, no child should be treated with neglect and abuse. Parents are being kept in the dark by crafty therapists desiring to keep their children in these conditions for economic reasons. As parents we were never informed that harsh behavioral modification techniques would be used to control and change our daughter who was voluntarily sought treatment. Yet this was done with impunity. A list of more than 25 individuals – staff, students and professionals was given as known and unknown persons who participated or witnessed abuse at PCS.

FINAL COMMENTS: Our fear is that this State of UTAH, like the Orem police and District Attorney, will believe the lies and biased cover-up presented by therapists and directors at PCS. We do not intend to be sarcastic, but our experience has shown a massive bias in the community and State toward this and similar youth mental programs, facilities, wilderness programs and schools. The fact that the police and the DA closed a child abuse case in one week further confirms our suspicion. Remember – we are the patient and the consumer. Our insurance paid $10,500 for our child, the voluntary patient, to be verbally, psychologically, emotionally, physically and possibly sexually abused at this mind control cult school for one month. Hopefully another child will not loose their life or sanity at this facility.”

Human Rights Organization HEAL has been investigating civil rights violations at Provo Canyon School for years. They have published numerous reports about the program, including the following list of phone calls to police regarding Provo Canyon School from January 2001 until December 2007.

According to HEAL, “In December, 2009, Provo Canyon School filed a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) lawsuit against HEAL claiming HEAL had committed libel (Libel: writing false and defamatory statements that cause injury to an individual or business’ reputation and/or cause an adverse financial effect.) In December, 2011, NATSAP falsely reported in their bulletin (page 3) that Provo Canyon School filed suit against HEAL because HEAL hacked Provo Canyon’s computers and was harassing current families with children enrolled at Provo Canyon School. That statement is completely false.”

On September 14th 2020, Paris Hilton premiered her documentary This is Paris, in which she attributes her chronic insomnia to the PTSD she developed when she spent eleven months at PCS in the late 1990s. She explains how the staff physically and psychologically abused her and the other students. Some of the instances she details include how she and the other students were drugged with unknown medications, how she was dragged from her bed at home by two employees sent to retrieve her and bring her to the facility, and how she was stripped nude and locked into a brick solitary confinement cell for nearly twenty-four hours. She had prviously been sent to several other programs, including CEDU High School, Ascent Wilderness, and the Cascade School, but she ran away from all other programs. She defines PCS as “the worst of the worst” of all troubled youth facilities she was sent to.

In response to Paris Hilton’s documentary, Provo Canyon School has attempted to skirt responsibility for the abuse that has reportedly occurred in their program. PCS released a statement claiming that, because UHS purchased Provo Canyon School shortly after Hilton left, they are not responsible for the events that took place at PCS under the old management. However, many survivors who attended PCS after UHS purchased it have since come forward backing Hilton’s claims of abuse. Six women who went to Provo Canyon School between 2003 and 2017 told The Salt Lake Tribune similar stories of being overmedicated, restrained and punished for minor infractions while at PCS. Many more survivors report that nothing major has changed about PCS’s program since it was purchased by UHS. Many of the same staff who worked at the program before UHS purched it remained at Provo Canyon School for many years following.

Provo Canyon School is one of the programs targeted heavily by the #BreakingCodeSilence movement. The organizers of the #BCS movement, including Paris Hilton, even organized a protest at Provo Canyon School on October 9th 2020, which had many survivors from various programs in attendance. A petition calling for the school’s closure has amassed over 202,000 signatures (as of April 2021).

Notable Alumni

Paris Hilton reports that she spent eleven months at Provo Canyon School in 1999. She was sent there by her family after running away from 3 CEDU programs: CEDU High School, Ascent Wilderness, and the Cascade School.

Kat Von D reports that she attened Provo Canyon School as a teenager. She alleged her parents sent her to the school for a three-week program, but she was ultimately there for six months. She witnessed people 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 couldn’t “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.

Drew Barrymore has also recently come out with reports that she attended Provo Canyon School as a teenager.

Sasha Barrese is reported to have attended Provo Canyon School as a teenager.

Survivor/Parent Testimonials

2020: (SURVIVOR) “I arrived at Provo in handcuffs because I was a “run-risk.” I was brought into a hospital room where a student and staff member strip-searched me again. I had to squat and cough like a prisoner in jail. They handed me clothing with a number on the tag. From that point on, I was referred to as the number not my name. I have completely forgotten the number because I blocked out the memory. They left me in an isolation room with a binder full of rules to look over. It had more rules than any of the other facilities had – you would get punished for absolutely everything. They had rules on how to open the door, use the bathroom, even to move. I was scared to do anything in fear of being punished. I saw children restrained, hit, and strangled on a daily basis. Some of the staff even sexually abused the children. There was a level system at Provo. I was on investment (the lowest level). We would have to walk in lines like soldiers. We were made to sleep with the lights on and with the doors open. The staff would come in every few minutes and lift our bedding to make sure we were still there. I barely slept during the 11 months I was there. The staff would watch while using the bathroom and in the shower, ripping the shower curtain open and staring at me while I was naked. Provo forced me to take medication daily that made me feel numb, exhausted and completely out of it. At one point, I tried to fake swallowing the medication because I knew medication wasn’t the answer for me. One girl told on me and I was punished by being locked into an isolation room for 24 hours. The isolation room was a locked bare cement room with no bathroom. There were scratch marks on the wall and smeared blood. Provo markets itself as a place of healing yet instead of providing any support when you needed it, they instead threw you into an isolated room and left you alone. It was inhumane and traumatized me for life. Most of the time I was at Provo, I was made to sit upright in a chair against a wall. If I slouched, closed my eyes, or moved – they would immediately start over the clock and make me stay for hours. I didn’t get the opportunity to go to school because I was forced to sit in the chair the whole day. Sometimes they would bring me down to the gym and make a group of us run in circles. If anyone in the group stopped running, we would all get punished. The food was inedible to the extent that I became a vegan because the meat looked rotten and I was terrified to eat it. The staff said I was just trying to be difficult and punished me for being a vegan. Their method of therapy consisted of manipulation, brainwashing, and fear tactics. In group therapy, they forced us to admit to things that didn’t happen. The therapy sessions were not therapeutic at all. It seemed like all they did was use information to hurt and humiliate you. In therapy, they let me call my parents every once in a while but would disconnect the phone if you said anything negative about Provo. They would convince my parents I was lying and was manipulating them to get out. If I wrote them a letter describing the abuse, they would rip it up and I would get punished. My parents had no idea what I was experiencing at these schools because there was no way for me to communicate to them. The staff at Provo targeted me. There was one woman in particular who enjoyed humiliating me and she only left Provo THIS FALL after my documentary came out. She was employed by Universal Health Services at Provo Canyon School for 20 years after I left. Other survivors told me that she would brag to them that she “was the one who broke Paris Hilton.” It is difficult to remember everything that happened because I have tried to block these memories out to protect myself. I had so much anxiety and was severely depressed. I was terrified of the other students because we were living in an environment, enforced by the staff, that you couldn’t trust anyone because they would tell on you and get you in trouble. I felt like a robot. We weren’t allowed to socialize, touch, or even speak at times. When I got out, I had a really difficult time looking anyone in the eye and receiving or giving hugs. I have major anxiety and PTSD from my experiences at these schools. There is so much more to say about the psychological, verbal, and physical abuse I endured at these programs but it would literally fit into a book, so this is just a small part of my story. It breaks my heart that children today have to endure the pain, torture, humiliation, and abuse that I went through on a daily basis. It is sickening that these facilities and their parent companies are profiting off the abuse of children and I will vow to help ensure these schools are held accountable and the children are safe and taken care of the way I wish I could have been.” – Paris Hilton

10/1/2020: (SURVIVOR) Link to Kim’s Survivor Testimony

8/27/2020: (SURVIVOR) “On July 16th 2004 My father committed suicide by shooting himself at our house. Less than 2 months after On September 11th 2004 a strange man showed up at my house to take me away. I was told I was being sent to a therapeutic boarding school to help me in the grieving process because I wasn’t ‘grieving properly’. Upon arriving to Provo Canyon School my life was turned upside down. I don’t remember a lot of the first few weeks but I do remember crying uncontrollably all day and developing a deep seated fear that my mother would die and I would be left there. After losing my Dad in such a traumatic way a lock down boarding school was the worst thing imaginable for me and my depression got so bad that I had to be medicated to function. The whole time I was at PCS I was absolutely terrified. I could not speak to my family with out a therapist present and I felt like I had been completely abandoned. While there nothing terrible personally happened to me aside from the PTSD I incurred from being sent but I did see terrible things happen to other girls, one who was my Roomate. My Roomate, who I will not name, was raped by her father starting as a small child, eventually he committed suicide and she found him hanging. This girl did not have behavioral problems so far as I could see. However they had her so drugged up to the point she couldn’t stay awake and constantly was sent to Observation because she would fall asleep from all the drugs she was put on. Because the staff at PCS were all young Mormon girls with zero therapeutic training or life experience in general they often couldn’t connect with us. I was good at being supportive of my peers and was often used to try to get other girls to comply. One night I was woken up at about 2 in the morning and asked to go speak to my Roomate who was in Observation, a cell where girls were sent when they wouldn’t listen. When I walked in the cell she was in a caterpillar suite thing and was crying uncontrollably, she had been sent there because she kept getting in trouble for falling asleep and was absolutely hysterical. I will never forget sitting with her in that cell and trying to help her get out of there by staring at the wall until staff said she could move. This poor child had been sexually traumatized since early child hood and did not deserve the negligence or abuse she received at PCS. After the incident I was rewarded with a candy bar the next day for helping staff and it still bothers me to this day. In December 2004 I was released from Provo Canyon School after the staff had come to the conclusion I didn’t “belong there”. Still the damage had been done and I was severely traumatized by the time I spent at PCS. Provo Canyon School is NOT a “therapeutic boarding school” and is a prison for children, many who have suffered from abuse. I will never be the same after being sent there and while I have grown into a healthy responsible adult the wounds that were inflicted from the time I spent at PCS will stay with me the rest of my life. I am sharing my story in hopes that not one more girl will have to be sent to this terrible facility and that the centers for troubled children would be reformed to actually help children instead of hurt them.” – Alexa (Breaking Code Silence)

2/29/2020: (PARENT) “DON’T PUT YOUR CHILD HERE! They do more harm to your child. My daughter started self-mutilating during her stay and now has scars which is a permanent reminder of their abuse. They put her in stabilization isolation, a room with four walls and just a small door to look into the room with no toilet, just a drain to urinate or deficate into. They turn down the temperature, leave the child there usually 3 days with no human contact or care whatsoever. Most of their social workers assigned to the children are interns with no clinical experience whatsoever prior to their employment other than their schooling. They DO NOT disclose that to you voluntarily. I found out looking up the “therapist” clinical social workers license that they had obtained their internship 13 days prior to being assigned to my child. They beat children mentally, emotionally and physically. They falsify treatment summaries just to get the insurance to pay your child’s stay. Furthermore over-medicating and misdiagnosing causing your child to be lethargic and unresponsive from medications they should not be taking in the first place, especially psychotropic medications. Over 90% of the school is juvenile criminals but they won’t disclose that information to you prior to your child’s admission. Do your research! Google Provo Canyon School employee reviews, as well as victim’s testimony that previously attended PCS. Institutions that treat children like this should be closed down. Help our future generation positively thrive” – Sam (Yelp)

5/29/2017: (SURVIVOR) “I was a student and resident almost 10 years ago, but the time spent at this facility was incredibly traumatic and emotionally stunting. I was here under 18 months and had an incredibly hard time assimilating back into high school, family life and society in general after being here. I felt guilty getting a glass of water out of my own kitchen upon completing the program, to give you an idea of what an impact they made on me and what a sense of shame and fear was instilled. Imagine throwing your your child into a juvenile hall rather than what the website sells you, which is a state of the art treatment facility staffed by the best therapists money can buy. This is a disciplinary facility, the likes of which are illegal in my home state. I was not allowed outside to breathe fresh air or see the sun the first several months for being deemed manipulative and a “flight risk” after I was denied phone calls with my family because I would cry about wanting to go home and explain to my family why I didn’t belong there and that I felt in over my head with the other older residents with more severe issues. If I mentioned not liking the facility and wanting to go home during my supervised phone calls I was deemed manipulative, the calls were immediately ended and further supervised phone calls were taken away as punishment. This upset my Grandfather to no end, but other members of my family believed this was part of a treatment plan. I attempted several times to be treated elsewhere and the staff made every effort to keep me from contacting my family including screening my incoming and outgoing mail like a prisoner. The units were staffed by locals who were no older than 25 at most, devout Mormons with little to no training in social or behavioral sciences, many of who were students at the local university, newly engaged and becoming young parents and constantly being replaced. This is absolutely “just a job” to them, and the vindictive punishments I saw them dole out to other residents with more severe issues than I was facing, was truly upsetting, even more so in retrospect as an adult woman. I will never forget watching a huge Samoan man body slam this tiny Alaskan native girl K* when she was clearly having an emotional break down and needed to be tended to by a therapist but was instead met by him and a team of nurses who gave her an involuntary sedative they call “booty juice”. She was then sent to a floor called investment which was essentially solitary confinement and returned months later heavily medicated and completely broken. I was fairly sheltered and these daily occurrences of watching people’s spirits being broken with barely any access to their assigned therapists were too much. I learned fairly quickly fly under the radar and attend the LDS services they offered because they fed us and the staff would treat us favorably if we attended the church services. I was placed here after losing my mother and abusing marijuana as a young teen. I was certainly troubled but I clearly did not belong. I was in the company of and roommates with girls who were 3-4 years older than me, and had issues ranging from being victims of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and childhood prostitution, severe drug use, cutting, suicidal ideations, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, extreme anger problems, you name it, the works. Many of them had no interest in getting better and exposed me to things I should have and would have never been exposed to had it not been for the failings of this facility. I, like most if not all of the residents was placed on birth control despite being a 13 year old virgin and this had never sat right with me as an adult. Please do your research before you send your child here, no matter how much money their school district or insurance is offering to cover. The cost does not correlate with the quality of care. This is like a jail, with the rampant atheletes foot, theft and fighting you see on tv. And from an administrative standpoint care packages sent from my family were often mishandled, money and jewelry “lost” instead of sent back and once my Christmas gifts were distributed to other people, engraved with their patient numbers and had to be collected and re-engraved. Of course they were not even able to get half the stuff back, and all the items were aesthetically ruined with all the scratched out engraving and it was then and only then my family realized how mismanaged the actual living units were. I understand it’s been a while since my time at pcs, but consider getting your child additional outpatient services at home rather than throwing them into this large mismanaged facility run by unqualified people almost their same age, with much more limited access to therapists than they originally tell you.” – Hayley (Yelp)

5/19/2009: (SURVIVOR) Link to Ashley’s Survivor Testimony – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

1/16/2009: (SURVIVOR) Link to Angela’s Survivor Testimony – Part 1 and Part 2

5/25/2005: (SURVIVOR) “I was at Provo Canyon School in Orem in 1999. One day when I have the time and the energy I will type and paste my whole story here and all over the web so that it comes up at the top of search engines when “prospective patents” type Provo Canyon School into the query box. I will never forget observation- the isolation room… The cot with cuffs and restraints hanging off it- that time they put that poor frail girl in a straight jacket, then later, left the jacket out hanging on the corner of the door, so everyone on investment could see it. The take downs. The sobbing, the total breakdowns under the stress and 24/7 headgames. Night after night those flashlights and hall lights in our eyes. Line structure. Dial… I can’t even say it, but you know the number. The Hadol in the hip bones, and the mean, downright vengeful sadistic staff. They had weird relationships and obsessions with some of the inmates. I saw one girl with a broken leg, and one with a broken arm, but the injuries were always described in some vague manner, “fell down the stairs” or “ran into the wall in P.E.” No one seems to get it, these places don’t just shut down soon as the media gets wind… They change owners. It was Charter when I was there and now it’s what, World Health or something like that? It’s still ol’ Rob Crist and his crew… They tried to convince me I had ran away from home when I never did. They even kept putting me in situation after situation where I had the chance to run, but I knew, I KNEW that it was a trap. Like once they left the stairwell door wide open and told me to deliver something from unit 2 up to orientation, another time my therapist had me help her carry stuff in from her car. But I’d always see a walky-talky antennae just around the corner or hear some far off muffled staticy “what’s your 20” They were always setting you up. I even made hotel! Some of those guys from the boy’s campus were pretty fine heh. Some of you probably rememeber me, and let me tell you soon as the staff got wind that I was leaving, they brought up something someone overheard me say from like four months prior and I lost my bed and landed in investment. I believe it was Lorna and Danielle that called me on it. (I heard Danielle moved to California, but Lorna’s still there and as mean as ever.) They totally expected me to lose it, they were all ready for me to lose it and just fly off the handle. So you know what I did? I just LOOKED at them, and said NOTHING. I worked off the ip’s, went back to the unit (in room 9 the one with the two-way mirror on the wall) then I went home. I should have never said anything in front of that girl, but they got inside her head. The staff at PCS had this way of pitting the girls against each other. Divide and conquer I guess. Know what I had said? After taking a Class II for sketching my name in ‘tag lettering,’ I was in a pretty pissy mood so I muttered under my breath: “I bet I could fake my way outta here.” It’s kinda funny. Truth is, I faked it the whole way though. I faked that place like it was a 24/7 role in a movie I was playing, and I observed EVERYTHING. I?ll tell you, one time they gave me some other girl’s Lithium by mistake, and then they were much more lenient on me after that. I tried to tell them I wasn’t her, and they threatened me with Obs if I didn’t swallow the meds. I actually had a great stash of all kinds of shit too (and I’m not talking candy), but I won’t say how, just in case some girl there now is using the same hiding spot, I don’t want some staff who reads these things to go bust them. Needless to say, I was high almost every weekend. How did I get through it? I once had one of the teachers write me like a year after I left and she said “you had a very calming presence in the classroom” I did all I could to just be silly and diffuse any uprising situation. I tried to give the place perspective, and was always a little sarcastic when I pointed out the inanity of the rules and terminology, without ever being obvious about it. They say true love conquers all, I just took everyone into my heart, both staff and students. On my last day I even looked the meanest staff in the eyes and told her, “I forgive you.” She had real fear in her face after hearing that. More than once the staff even asked me to talk to a girl to calm her down. All I could ever say to the girls (since I was being watched, of course) was “Look, you know as well as I do how far this can go.” And it would go FAR. I heard they could keep a girl in Obs for weeks on nothing but hard water and saltines. They lied to my mother and told her that no men worked on the girl’s units, but I can remember at least two males in their twenties on the investment unit (one of which I believe was a senior one’s son). The staff also trashed my sketchbook. I also heard a rumor that this girl saw some room that had a bunch of TVs which looked like they were receiving input from surveillance cameras, but I never saw that for myself. To this day I freak out when ever I smell cleaning solvent similar to the ones we had to use. All Provo Canyon School ever taught me was that there are serious mind-control experiments being run on this country’s youth, and that by having control over the inmates mail, and listening in on phone conversations, they cut off all access to legal representation or help of any kind. They control everyone by FORCE and THREATS- staff and students alike. How I wish the revolution had gone down while I was there! Some success story huh? Now I’m an artist and a musician.” – Anonymous (Fornits)

9/13/2004: (SURVIVOR) “My name is Amie Ashcraft. I have been trying to get involved with legal action against Provo Canyon School and I have been unsuccessful so far. It frightens me that not enough people are interested in what I or any other person who has experienced abuse in these places have to say. Here is my story, for all to see. I hope someone will read this and believe the awful truth. I was abused and was witness to the abuse of others while being held at the Provo Canyon School. Our human, civil, and Constitutional rights were violated, and we were abused physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I want my story to be heard in the hopes that this abuse will not be allowed to continue. Here is my story as I remember it to the best of my ability. When I was 16, I was sent to Provo, Utah from a crisis center in Texas that recommended long term residential treatment for me. I had been the victim of rape, and consequently developed eating disorders, depression, suicidal tendencies, and a serious drug habit in response to the emotional turmoil I was in. I was running away from home often, but I was not in any sort of legal trouble. I had actually managed to do well in school despite being placed in numerous crisis treatment facilities for teens. Although I recieved professional care, my condition had not improved and my parents were terrified. When they contacted Provo Canyon they were told that if they wanted me to survive past age 16, I needed to be in a maximum lockdown facility that could give me the therapeutic support I needed in a secure environment. I suppose 500 pound magnetic locks are as secure as it gets. In late November 1999, I was put on a plane headed for Provo, Utah, to the Orem Campus. This facility happened to be only for girls, except that there was a small unit for prepubescent boys on the first floor. To my dismay upon my arrival, this place was nothing like the brochure! I was not even allowed to say good-bye to my mother who had come with me on the plane. She was not allowed to stay with me during the admittance process. I assume that the facility considered me to be high-risk and dangerous to their program from the beginning, since I had tried to run from the airport as I was being brought in. I assumed that this was the reason I was never allowed to communicate with my family without supervision. My phone calls were closely monitored, and even the slightest mention of wanting to go home warranted the call being cut short. When my parents asked why I was not allowed to continue the phone call, they were told that “problem teens often beg to return home because they want their families to feel sorry for them, and they don’t want to be helped.” My letters to my family and friends were read in case they included “escape plans,” and any attempts to reveal to my parents what was really going on, or express my desire to return home were severely punished. During the long tedious hours at the school I had written in a journal many poems dealing with being raped, and these were read publicly and then tossed into a trashcan for being “inappropriate.” I was punished for writing them. I began another journal, this time written entirely in French. This journal was taken to a teacher who could read the language, and was also deemed “inappropriate.” It was confiscated as well. Needless to say, I was proving to be a lot more difficult to brainwash than most girls because I refused to follow the rules which seemed cruel and over the top to me. The majority of the staff were prone to treating me with even more disdain and contempt than usual, and I was constantly verbally abused and humiliated in front of the other girls, sometimes by the other girls with staff’s permission. I was always being put in isolation, called “Observation,” for being defiant. Sometimes physical force, restraints, or a dose of Haldol or Thorazine was used. “Observation” was a room with concrete walls and a cold concrete floor. On several occasions I was put in this room in the dead of winter wearing nothing but a T-shirt and pants, and left there for hours, or sometimes over 24 hours. As another punishment, I was made to sleep on a broken metal cot in a brightly lit hallway for months on end on the “Investment Unit.” I was also put on a special diet for my eating disorders, which included punishment unless I finished all of my food. I was closely watched as I used the toilet or showered, and ridiculed by staff members who were annoyed that they had to watch me so closely. My reading materials were confiscated on a regular basis. My privileges to attend meals and go to school were taken away on the “Investment” unit. There were phone numbers posted up where I could supposedly call and report abuse, but when I asked if I could use the phone I was denied access to one. I was told that “no one will believe you anyway, that’s why you’re here. Everyone thinks you’re crazy.” When I asked to write a grievance, my therapist said that I could write one, but she would be sure to alert whomever it was sent to that I was a known pathalogical liar. I’m pretty sure each grievance I wrote just sat on her desk or was thrown away. On Sundays, anyone who did not attend church had to sit in a room quietly and do homework or stare at the walls. I attended the Mormon services once, and decided that I would rather stare at a wall than participate in the service. I was not allowed to speak of or write about my religion of choice (I was a practicing Wiccan at the time). When I drew images related to it I was publicly ridiculed and punished, and the event was used against me in my treatment. I was forced to clean rooms of the facility daily, and if the standards (which were impossibly high) were not met, there was strict punishment in order. My therapeutic needs were not being met at all, in fact I felt as if I was regressing and struggling with issues that were not being addressed, even when I requested therapy or suggested that I was struggling with these issues. My therapist, Jennifer Wooley, was not even aware of my post traumatic stress disorder, and actually asked me what PTSD was. Once a month I would attend “treatment plan meetings” where I would be put into a room with many hateful adults (psychiatrists, therapists, and staff members), most of which had no direct dealings with me whatsoever. They would character assassinate me and berate me until I was in tears. They told me that since I was not improving, they didn’t know when I would be going home, but it wouldn’t be soon. I wonder why I wasn’t improving? At Provo Canyon School one of the many punishments used involved being made to sit in a chair for most of the day to “serve off points” which were given as punishment. In order to use the restroom or get a drink of water, I would have to wait with my hand in the air until a staff member decided to call on me. Sometimes I would be waiting for hours. “Serving off points” would last all evening on a school night, or all day on a weekend. No recreational reading was allowed, only homework. If I ran out of homework, I was to face the wall or sit quietly without moving, or my “points” would be lost for the hour. At one point, I had thousands of points to serve off. Some staff members who disliked me would take away my points for no reason at all. Sometimes as a punishment I was made to face a wall, sitting perfectly still, and was left waiting for hours until an overworked and sadistic staff member felt like letting me move. As for my psychiatric treatment, Robert Crist happened to be my “psychiatrist” (I use the term loosely), and although I pleaded with him to take me off of the medications I was on, he proceeded to prescribe more. I remember being given up to seven medications at once. One medication he described as being used specifically for schizophrenia. I have never in my life been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Even though I claimed that the medicines made me physically ill and I could no longer concentrate or think clearly, I was told that I needed them. I was not given a choice to take these medications, they were given to me and my mouth was checked, or I was given punishment or more time in “Observation” for refusing the medications. I was also witness to the abuse of other children. I watched in horror as many seriously disturbed and mentally fragile girls were taken down forcefully by five or more adult staff members (this was called a “dial 9”) and given injections because they were “out of control.” Sometimes the girls would scream in pain, and they were actually injured quite severely for no apparent reason. Not once did any of these girls do anything so severe as to deserve this brutal treatment. One of my own experiences particularly stands out in my memory. I was suffering a post-traumatic stress disorder flashback which had reduced me to cowering in a hallway sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. Instead of being treated with compassion and concern, I was injected with a large amount of either Haldol or Thorazine (both of which I had been inappropriately given before in similar situations, none of which involved me being a threat to others or myself) and left in “Observation” for several hours as I cried for help. The staff members involved in this situation were strangers, members of the night staff who were untrained and unaware of my condition. The policies and punishments at Provo Canyon School were often quite sadistic and unnecessary. I witnessed girls who had been at Provo for years finally learn to complete each mundane task they were given perfectly and reach “Advanced Unit Status.” Then, for something as simple as not making a bed properly, they would be dropped down to the punishment unit (which I was always living on) and told that although they were scheduled to leave in a few weeks, they would in fact be staying for much longer since they had broken the rules. Then their parents were contacted and told that the girls had “relapsed” and could not return home just yet. Their failures were publicly announced and they were humiliated in front of the entire school. During my six month stay at PCS after months of fighting against the system, I realized that in order to leave this place, I was going to have to stop rebelling and pretend to toe the line. I made it to a Unit where I was allowed outside privileges. After I was told that even though I was now following the strict order of the school, I was still going to be staying for another six months, I decided that I was going to run. Sometime in late May 2000, after months of not breathing one bit of fresh air (my outdoor privileges were restricted as a punishment from the beginning), I was finally allowed to go outside. The staff was not paying attention to me as I walked around the property, scoping it all out. I found a flimsy plastic fence on one side of the property, and in seconds I had dug a hole and crawled underneath it until was on the other side of it, tumbling down a cliff into a muddy ravine. From there I made it to the highway. I had hitched a ride and I was halfway to Las Vegas on a truck before anyone noticed I was gone. It was hours and hours before my parents were contacted. Provo Canyon provided no explanation or apology to them, and also gave the police an inaccurate physical description for me. I did not return home to my family for three more months after I escaped, because I was sure that they would only send me back to Provo. The school had informed me that if I ever escaped, they would bring me back, strip search me and place me in “Observation.” They told me that they would press charges and send me to jail. Upon returning home, I learned that my personal belongings had been carelessly thrown in a box and shipped to my grieving mother (who thought I might be dead) without any warning or condolences. Provo had refused to compensate my family for my escape. To make matters worse they also tried to bill my parents for the month in which I disappeared. Of course, my parents were nothing but relieved that I came home to them alive, and furious when I told them as many details about my treatment at the school as I was able to without breaking down. They attempted to prosecute, but no one was interested in the case. They tried to contact the authorities, but nothing came of it. My suspicion is that Provo Canyon School keeps their “students” there for long periods of time in order to extract as much money as possible from their families. My family was paying them 6,000 dollars a month. They robbed my family, and consequently my parents did not have the financial means of pursuing any other legal action at the time. This is all in my past now, but I am haunted by the fact that as I type, thousands of children are sitting in Provo or some other program scared and alone, wondering what they ever did to deserve the abuse they are suffering through. They are being brainwashed to believe that it is for their own good, and that they are being punished for something. Some of them may die as a result from severe abuse. Their families are being mislead into believing these places are therapeutic, when in fact they are correctional facilities designed to coerce them into submission. This angers me to no end, and something has to be done. I am now 21 years old with a daughter of my own, and I feel it is definitely time for this school to be shut down before any more teens are harmed — mind, body or spirit. These children are hurting, like I was, and they need compassion, warmth, and kindness. Not harassment and “behavior modification.” I have been trying to contact as many people and agencies as possible in order to do what I can to shut the school down. I am afraid that the state of Utah is involved in a massive cover up in order to protect Provo Canyon Schools and other WWASPS facilities. It is a documented fact that these programs give the goverment large amounts of money. I am on a mission to close PCS and other programs like it. I’d like to see the corporate fat cats who run them behind bars. Why should children be abused just so these monsters can have a summer house and a yacht?” – Amie (Fornits)