A Utah bill backed by Paris Hilton to increase regulations on the state’s “troubled teen” centers passed the state legislature on Tuesday night.
Hilton, who testified last month in front of Utah state senators about her experience in the 1990s at the Provo Canyon School, celebrated the bill’s passage in a Wednesday Instagram post.
“I am so proud to share that SB127, the bill I testified on behalf of has passed the Utah legislature,” she wrote.
“This bill protects thousands of youth in residential care from cruel punishments, strip-searches, and seclusion,” Hilton said.
During her emotional Feb. 8 testimony, Hilton said she suffered “unconstitutional, degrading and terrifying” abuse at the school, the Deseret News reported.
She added that staffers allegedly watched her use the bathroom and shower and subjected her to “solitary confinement,” the report said.
Hilton said the bill also “bans the use of chemical restraint and peer restraint, ensures youth have unmonitored communication with their families, prohibits gender-based discrimination, creates suicide prevention policies, and more.”
