Utah revokes Springville's Provo Canyon School license

SALT LAKE CITY — Provo Canyon School's Springville campus license has been revoked by the state of Utah after several recent and years-old allegations of abuse.

The revocation by the Department of Health and Human Services was issued on Monday; however, the behavioral health facility has until Aug. 6 of this year to terminate all services and stop accepting new enrollments.

"This also means that the owners may not reapply for a new license for five years," said Shannon Toman Black, the director of the Division of Licensing and Background Checks at Utah's Department of Health and Human Services. "Our role between now and the closure of the facility is that we continue, between now and April 6, to prioritize making sure this program is safely serving existing clients."

The notice asks the youth treatment facility to notify parents or guardians of each student enrolled at the school of the license revocation. The school must also post the notice on a publicly accessible site.

Persistent allegations

The decision to revoke the Springville location's license came after years of abuse allegations from former students and their families. The department said it was "taking this action because of (Provo Canyon School's) failure to provide applicable health and safety services for clients."

Black explained more about how the department came to the decision of revocation during a news conference on Tuesday.

"On June 16, 2026, the Division of Licensing and Background Checks received a complaint from the Disability Law Center, which included multiple allegations regarding the Springville campus of Provo Canyon."

The department investigated the school and found incidents that were not reported by the school, as well as incidents that were reported but with omitted materials, Black said.

From there, the department reviewed medical records, internal Provo Canyon documentation and camera footage while interviewing staff and clients as the investigation continued.

Celebrity advocate Paris Hilton is one of those former students. She attended Provo Canyon School in Springville and has spoken publicly about her time there, claiming she also experienced abuse at the youth treatment facility as a teenager.

In a statement sent to KSL, Hilton spoke about Springville's campus getting its license revoked.

"For more than 50 years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect, and trauma," Hilton said. "Today, the state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care."

Hilton spoke about how change is possible when survivors refuse to stay silent, and any institution can be held accountable for its actions.

"The little girl in me who was told she would never be believed feels so validated today," Hilton said. "We were telling the truth. We always were."

The department's notice stated it "considers the '(school's) chronic, ongoing noncompliance with applicable rules, statutes, or requirements' when taking any action against the (school).'"

From failing to increase the staff-to-client ratio as needed to failing to protect clients from harm, several instances were noted by the department after it reviewed the school's compliance history.

That includes: failing to protect children from harm, not maintaining their health and safety, not ensuring staff have clear background checks before unsupervised access to children and aggressive physical contact with clients.

On Feb. 5, 2025, the Springville campus' license was placed on conditional status and was extended on May 05, 2025, "when the (school) failed to protect a client from physical mistreatment caused by staff," according to the department.

As for the students who need to leave the school, Black said the department would work with the school and other client support systems in other states. This will be done to make sure the students currently on campus, and after the closure date are safely transferred to their home state or to another appropriate placement.

"States and families need time to be able to come and pick up children that may be in their care," Black said. "They may be the guardians of and find a place to safely transition them, whether that's back home, whether that's to somewhere in Utah, whether that's to another state. It is actually incredibly unsafe if we were to go in and just stick a sign on the door and say, 'Everybody out.'"

Black said the department would return to the school as often as necessary to keep clients safe as the school's date of closure approaches.

DHHS wasn't able to report how many children were affected or how many complaints were received.

Provo campus violations

On June 17, the department also imposed immediate conditions on the license of Provo Canyon School's Provo campus after an inspection found three instances of the school being out of compliance with existing rules.

"We prefer, when possible to support programs to come into compliance and be able to sustain compliance so that they can continue to serve individuals safely," Black said.

In one instance, the department noted an investigator found the school "failed to summon emergency medical services for a minor client who was rendered unconscious and sustained severe head and facial injuries during a physical assault."

The investigator said the school delayed medical treatment by deciding to take the client to the hospital using a non-medical transport company.

The second instance was "for failing to ensure that each client has the right to be free from potential harm or acts of violence," the department noted.

According to the investigator, school surveillance footage showed a client starting a confrontation with another client at the school.

"A staff member attempted to intervene, extending her arm, but was pushed aside," the department's notice said. "Staff failed to use behavior management training and perform appropriate holds and restraints in order to prevent harm to the client."

The staff member who was pushed away called for help using a radio just as one client severely injured the other.

"The client lifted the other client up, slammed him onto the floor, and punched him in the face four times, rendering him unconscious, sustaining severe facial injuries and life-threatening head injuries," the department stated.

In the final instance noted by the department's investigator, the school allegedly failed to move a client after they and their family expressed concerns to the school.

"(The school) failed to act upon explicit safety concerns, peer threats of violence, and unit transfer requests communicated by a minor client and his legal guardian prior to a severe physical attack," the notice stated. "The therapist confirmed these concerns and requests were brought to his attention, but the client was not moved."

School owner, opponent react

Both the owner of Provo Canyon School and the Disability Law Center of Utah, which visited the school recently, released statements on the license revocation.

"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," said Tim Marshall, chief executive officer of Universal Health Services, which owns the school. "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 Disability Law Center of Utah said in its statement that it visited the school recently and was "pleased to see" the closure.

"While the closure of a facility is a drastic step, the State must take this action when a facility repeatedly shows it cannot meet the needs of residents or keep them safe," the center's statement read. "In the future, we urge the Department not to wait until the harm rises to the level it has at PCS before taking whatever action is necessary to protect children."

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