(15 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sacramento, California – 15 April 2024
1. Paris Hilton walks into press conference
+++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED+++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Paris Hilton, Media Personality & Activist:
"Today I stand before you not just as Paris Hilton, but as an advocate and survivor of the troubled teen industry. I know firsthand the horrors that happen behind the closed doors of youth residential treatment facilities. I know the feeling of helplessness, the despair of being trapped in a system that thrives on secrecy and exploitation. It’s a nightmare that no child should ever have to endure."
3. Hilton wipes away tears during press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Paris Hilton, Media Personality & Activist:
"If I tried to tell my parents about the abuse, the staff would immediately rip the phone from my hand, disconnect the call and subject me to violent physical restraints and solitary confinement. The sounds of my peers screaming as they were restrained and injected with sedatives will never leave me. It’s hard to imagine that it still happens today in the USA, but it does, and we cannot ignore it."
5. Wide of Hilton speaking at press conference
+++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED+++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Paris Hilton, Media Personality & Activist:
"The Accountability and Children’s Treatment Act increases transparency so the public knows what truly happens behind closed doors. If these facilities are scared of a simple transparency measure, then I think we should ask them what do they have to hide?"
7. Hilton hugs state lawmakers after press conference
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Paris Hilton, Media Personality & Activist:
"If you are abusing children, I will find out. I will find you, and I will come with my huge spotlight and shine it on wherever you are, because people aren’t going to get away with this anymore. Enough is enough."
STORYLINE:
The bill supported by hotel heiress and media personality Paris Hilton aims to pry open information on how short-term residential facilities for youth dealing with substance abuse and behavioral issues use disciplinary methods such as restraints or seclusion against minors.
It would require such centers to notify parents and the state any time they use restrains or seclusion rooms for minors.
It’s authored by Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove and Democratic state Sens. Aisha Wahab and Angelique Ashby.
Hilton has become a prominent advocate for more oversight and regulation of teen treatment centers after publicly sharing the physical and mental abuse she suffered as a teenager at a boarding school in Utah.
She alleged staff members would beat her, force her to take unknown pills, watch her shower and send her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment.
In 2021, her testimony about her experience at Utah’s Provo Canyon School helped pass a bill to impose stricter oversight over youth treatment centers in the state.
Hilton has also traveled to Washington D.C. to advocate for federal reforms and helped changed laws to protect minors in at least eight states.
Under the new bill, facilities would have to report details such as what disciplinary actions were taken, why and who had approved the plan.
The state department regulating the facilities also would be required to make public the reports and update the database on the quarterly basis. It would not ban the use of such practices.
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