Utah increased its oversight of its troubled-teen industry. Has it worked?

Paris Hilton leads a march to the Provo Canyon School, a residential treatment center in Utah she attended as a teen, in October 2020.Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune

A year ago Utah legislators enacted more regulations of Utah’s massive teen treatment industry, the first increase in oversight for more than a decade.

The legislation placed limits on use of restraints, drugs, and isolation rooms in youth treatment programs. It allocated more money to hire more regulators who go into youth treatment programs more often. And it required companies to report when a staff member uses a physical restraint on a young person or puts them in seclusion. 

The new regulations came in response to increased scrutiny in recent years of youth treatment programs amid allegations of mistreatment and abuse, including accounts from celebrities like Paris Hilton.

Today state regulators have a clearer picture of what goes on in Utah's more than 100 teen treatment programs. But did the reform efforts work?

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