Paris Hilton has spoken out against the “troubled teen industry”, which might be a billion dollar business but is reportedly a hotbed of traumatic psychological and physical abuse. 

As per Rolling Stone, the self-described victim of that industry went to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, October 20th, to advocate for accountability. She appeared alongside other survivors, advocates, and some Democratic lawmakers.

They were discussing the new Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which is set to be introduced in both houses of Congress soon. “I’m confident that this bill will create a world where all youth have the support and opportunity to heal, thrive, and not just survive,” Hilton said yesterday about the new Care Act.

Hilton also published an op-ed in The Washington Post last weekend, detailing her horrific experience in the “troubled teen industry”. In the essay, she recounted being woken up in the middle of the night and handcuffed by two men as part of a “parent-approved kidnapping.”

“I was choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering and deprived of sleep,” she wrote. “I was called vulgar names and forced to take medication without a diagnosis. At one Utah facility, I was locked in solitary confinement in a room where the walls were covered in scratch marks and blood stains.”

A 2008 government accountability report stated that an estimated 120,000 young people were housed at any given time in congregate care facilities for “troubled teens”. A decade later, though, and Hilton feels not enough has been done.

She’s called on President Biden and Congress to enact a “bill of rights” for young people in these congregate care facilities.

“Ensuring that children, including at-risk children, are safe from institutional abuse, neglect and coercion isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue,” she wrote. “It’s a basic human rights issue that requires immediate action. Those in power have an obligation to protect the powerless.”

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