Sexual abuse, force-fed drugs.

Appearing before a congressional committee to urge lawmakers to increase child welfare protections, Paris Hilton spoke about her experiences living in foster care as a teenager. “These programs promised healing, growth and support, but instead for two years they prevented me from speaking, moving freely or even looking out the window,” she testified Wednesday. “The staff force-fed me drugs and sexually abused me. “I was brutally restrained, dragged through the corridors, stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement.” Hilton stated that at the age of 16 she was “ripped” from her bed and taken to the first of four facilities. Hilton has previously alleged that she experienced emotional, verbal and physical abuse from staff at Provo Canyon School, a Utah boarding school and mental health treatment center where she once spent 11 months. (Provo stated that she did not tolerate any form of abuse and noted that her ownership changed in 2000, which was after she left.)

Hilton has been a vocal critic of such facilities, suggesting they are part of an industry that cares more about profit than the so-called troubled youth they are supposed to help. She told Congress that her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton, were “deceived” and “manipulated” about the “inhumane treatment” she allegedly suffered, and she expressed concern that foster children and adoptees who are not regularly monitored are at an even greater disadvantage. Ultimately, Hilton called on lawmakers to pass legislation (including the now-expired Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and the proposed Ending Institutional Abuse of Children Act) to prevent children from being placed in such facilities in the first place. Toward the end of her testimony, she addressed the children still in the system directly. “I see you, I believe you, I know what you’re going through, and I will not give up,” she said. “You matter, and your future matters, and you deserve every chance to be safe and supported.”