Utah senators hear of abuse at ‘teen-teen’ treatment centers

Jeff Netto never wanted to tell anyone what happened when he was 13, how he was put in solitary confinement, physically restrained and given sedatives while in a “restless teen” facility in Utah.

That all changed when celebrity Paris Hilton released a documentary last year in which she outlined her own allegations of abuse and mistreatment at Provo Canyon School, to which she was sent in the 1990s.

Netto’s family watched her documentary and started asking questions about what he had experienced in his own school. And he began to answer them.

That conversation put Netto in front of a Senate committee in Utah on Monday, where he tearfully recounted his experiences and urged them to pass a bill that could bring more oversight to the largely lucrative private industry operating in his home state thrived.

As a local Utah boy, he said, he needed the senators of his state to know how he was being abused – and to know that it still happens to the children from across the country who are being sent here for treatment. .

“I did not want to expose it,” he said, breaking his voice in emotion. “I do not want to tell anyone these things. Please take this bill seriously. It happens in our state. This is not Utah. That’s not how Utah behaves. This is not how we treat our children. ”

Netto testified after Hilton, who flew to Utah, attended Monday’s hearing in support of SB127, a bill sponsored by Senator Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork. She says she was taken out of bed in the middle of the night and forced into a plane. When she arrives at Provo Canyon School, she gets clothes with a label.

“I was no longer Paris,” she said. “I was just number 127.”

While at Provo Canyon School, Hilton said she watches as other children are hit, stopped by staff, thrown into walls and sexually abused. There was no way to call for help, she said.

“Talking about something so personal was and still is scary,” she said during her testimony. “But I can not go to bed at night, knowing that there are children who experience the same abuse.”

Members of the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee unanimously supported McKell’s bill, which places restrictions on the use of restraints and sedatives and requires more inspections.

But some in the committee did not think the proposal went far enough. Senator Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, wanted to add an immediate clause to ensure the reforms take effect the day the governor signs them, instead of waiting the usual months. Led by the evidence, Thatcher also questions whether a commission should be set up to continue investigating.

“I can not believe I am saying this after years of legislation to get rid of all our damn commissions,” he said. “But we may need another damn commission to go in and really get all the issues addressed.”

Some of the legislators apologized to those who testified.

“It’s been a long, long time in Utah, of course,” Sen said. Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, told Hilton. And to be honest, we did not protect you. And I’m sorry about that. It’s about children. It’s about our families. It’s about our reputation. Our action on this could not be more urgent. ”

Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, became emotional when she spoke of her own children, saying she could not think they were going through a similar experience. She calls it ’embarrassment’ that it happened in Utah.

“It goes beyond what I ever thought possible,” she said. “To think that this will happen in 2021 is still scary.”

Hilton said after the trial that she cried when the senators called for not only to pass McKell’s bill, but to do even more.

“Hearing their reaction and wanting to add even more restrictions and stricter laws to this bill was just a dream come true,” she said. “I was just so happy.”

She called the Utah legislation a “first step” and said she would also push for legislation at the national level.

“We want to take it to a federal level,” she said, “and bring it to all 50 states. Because it should not happen anywhere on this planet. ”

McKell estimated Monday that there are currently about 5,600 children in Utah residential treatment programs, most of whom are nonprofits.

“These are children in the state of Utah who are treated as they should not be,” he said during the committee hearing. “And it is up to us, as legislators, to take the right steps to ensure that the safety rails are there and to help them.”

‘There’s a lot of money in this industry. It’s a big, big industry, ”McKell said. “And I’m becoming increasingly concerned that the appropriate amount of regulations has not caught up.”

Public reports show that in the past five years, nearly 12,000 children have come through Utah to juvenile treatment centers, some of which have bounced from one place to another.

Some of the juveniles are sent by their parents, while others are ordered by a judge after they have broken the law. There are also children in foster care who are brought here because they will not take any place in their home state.

McKell’s bill received early support from the teen industry.

Managers of Provo Canyon School said they support McKell’s bill and the transparency it will bring. The National Association for Therapeutic Schools and Programs, to which many of these facilities belong, is also on board, although its leaders say they want legislators to accept clearer amendments. There was little public opposition to the measure, but Monday is the first time there will be a public hearing on the bill.

“These children are not real,” she said. “It should not be sent over state lines, but only in a subartic, prison-style housing, just for the $ 16,000 salaries attached to it.”

The bill now goes to the full Senate for a vote.