AMERICAN media personality Paris Hilton has thrown her support behind eight American boys who claim that they were abused at a school for troubled teens in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

Hilton, at a press conference at the Jack Sprat restaurant in the south-coast town on Wednesday afternoon, said she was “horrified” by the abuse allegations.

“I heard these boys were stripped naked, violently beaten, whipped and waterboarded,” Hilton, herself an alleged victim of institutional child abuse, said.

Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) earlier this year removed the boys, ages 14 to 18, from the Atlantis Leadership Academy — which advertises itself as a faith-based school serving young men who have “taken some wrong turns in their lives” — in response to the allegations.

Seven of the teens are currently in the custody of Jamaican child welfare authorities while the 18-year-old was sent back home in February.

Hilton, who attended a court hearing in support of the boys earlier Wednesday, expressed outrage at the length of time it has taken to repatriate all the children.

“It outrages me that it has taken months to bring these children back to the United States and mere moments to send them away in the first place,” Hilton said.

“Several of these boys are adopted and were promised better and more stable lives. One of these boys is even adopted into a former governor’s home in Kentucky. The life these children were promised has not been upheld,” she added.

Opening up about her own experiences at troubled teen schools, Hilton said that she could empathise with the boys, citing it as the primary reason she “dropped everything” she was doing to support them at the court hearing earlier in the day Wednesday.

“I believe these children. I know as a teenager what I went through, I was so traumatised that I didn’t want to think about it [and] I didn’t even tell my parents or anyone until 20 years later because I was so traumatised by what I went through.” said Hilton.

“When these boys asked for me and wanted me to come to the hearing, I dropped everything to travel here. No child deserves to be silenced or to testify about abuse alone. I also immediately sent supplies and clothing for the boys and brought more items with me today to help them stay comfortable during this stressful and traumatic experience,” added Hilton.

According to Hilton, troubled teen institutions such as Atlantis Leadership Academy are not unique to Jamaica.

“Alantis Leadership Academy is not a one-off programme. This is a global issue that requires systematic change,” she said.

“My team and I from 11:11 Media have been working tirelessly and going back and forth to Washington, DC. We’ve already passed eight state laws to protect children. And now our Bill, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, is in Congress right now. So we’re hoping that it will be passed this year. And this is something that’s a mission in my life,” added Hilton.

Hilton also used the occasion to slam the operators of troubled teen institutions, in addition to the parents.

“Rightfully, Jamaican authorities are questioning why anyone would be willing to sign over guardianship of their child to a complete stranger in a foreign country without ever visiting or maintaining contact. To these parents, how could you ever starve a child like that?” she asked.

The American operator of Atlantis Leadership Academy has accused the CPFSA of not following due process and coming to a premature conclusion before the completion of an investigation into the allegations.