Paris Hilton calls for better oversight of for-profit youth facilities in congressional testimony

June 26 (UPI) -- Reality television star-turned-advocate Paris Hilton on Wednesday was on Capitol Hill to give congressional testimony, calling for better oversight of for-profit youth treatment facilities as she described her own horrific experience as a teenage girl in such a facility.

"When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four youth residential treatment facilities," she told a congressional committee.

The House Ways and Means Committee heard relevant testimony from other witnesses and experts in the field at Wednesday's hearing on "Strengthening Child Welfare and Protecting America's Children" inside Longworth House Office Building.

Hilton, 43, is a well-known television and media personality, author and an heiress to the Hilton Hotel chain. Currently, she is CEO of 11:11 Media. Hilton said she visited Congress to "strongly advocate," she said in remarks, for the reauthorization of Title IV-B of the 1935 Social Security Act, originally signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

At the hearing, Hilton at times appeared slightly emotional as she recalled her own alleged "inhumane treatment" at a for-profit facility, saying it is a $23 billion industry that "sees these children as dollar signs and operates without meaningful oversight."

Along with Hilton, the committee also heard testimony from Rob Geen, board of trustees chair of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and Tori Hope Petersen, an author, speaker and advocate, along with Alexis Mansfield, a senior adviser at the Women's Justice Institute.

Hilton said some facilities "are continuing to warehouse over 50,000 foster youth and unknown number of adopted youth in lockdown facilities," who are young people, she stated, who have committed no crime but there by way of other reasons or external forces. Hilton says better oversight and reform of such facilities are a "life or death responsibility."

As of 2018, 40% of residential detention facilities in the U.S. were private housing 27% of youth, according to a 2020 report on the topic.

Last month, the Justice Department announced it was conducting a civil rights investigation into allegations of excessive force, prolonged isolation and threats of violence and sexual abuse at eight Kentucky youth detention centers and one youth development center.

"These programs promised 'healing, growth, and support,' but instead did not allow me to speak, move freely, or even look out of a window for two years," Hilton testified. "I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement."

According to the National Governors Association, the federal funding stream through the Title IV-B reauthorization, of which Hilton spoke in favor, supports kids in the child welfare system or at risk of entering it, designed around prevention and early intervention.

But Hilton on Wednesday acknowledged that while she was not in the foster care system, she said that her parents, Richard and Kathy Hilton, were "completely deceived, lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry" as she pointed out there are kids with no family or means of privilege trapped in the system.

She also told a brief story of two kids who she said died while held in a youth treatment facility.

To that point, a 2021 study indicated how those age 11 to 21 who previously served time in juvenile detention facilities have a nearly six-fold higher risk for early death compared to those who have not been incarcerated, meaning people incarcerated as adolescents and teens are more likely to die at young age than the rest of the population,

"So can you only imagine the experience for youth placed by the state who don't have people regularly checking-in on them?" Hilton said Wednesday in her minutes-long testimony.

Hilton's advocacy on the topic of "troubled teens" at for-profit youth facilities stretches back a number of years with her, likewise, giving similar testimony to California lawmakers as recently as April.

The governor's group says the Title IV-B reauthorization gives opportunities to "strengthen" it so states can "better utilize this funding stream to support children and families working with child protection services."

"Families need resources and support so they don't need to come into the child welfare system in the first place," the reality television star said as she called their alleged treatment "criminal."

The discretionary grant programs provided under Title IV-B, the NGA adds, has allowed states to develop complementary programs and other supportive services that cater specifically to states' priority populations.

Hilton says she has so far aided in the passing of nine pieces of legislation. She called on Congress to pass the so-called Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

She says kids deserve to grow up in "safe, family-centered environments."

"If you are a child in the system, hear my words" Hilton stated Wednesday at the end of her remarks. "I see you, I believe you, I know what you're going through and I won't give up on you. You are important, your future is important, and you deserve every opportunity to be safe and supported."