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A former federal immigration detainee is suing the Indiana Department of Correction’s third-party medical services provider and several corrections officers over allegations of medical neglect and excessive use of force.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana announced it had filed two lawsuits on behalf of Andranik Grigoryan, a New York resident and former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee who was housed at Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill — an Indiana prison facing heightened scrutiny after several immigrant detainees died there earlier this year.
Grigoryan said the state’s correctional medical services provider, Centurion Health of Indiana, failed to employ enough staff to give Grigoryan his needed medication, which he said led to him suffering a severe seizure earlier this year.
In March, the state renewed its contract with Centurion Health for up to one year and for $213.5 million — even amid growing concerns that the company has not been meeting its staffing quotas or providing adequate service.
In one of Monday’s lawsuits, Grigoryan also asserts that after his seizure, correctional officers used excessive force against him and denied him medical care.
“What happened to Mr. Grigoryan was cruel and unconstitutional,” said Ken Falk, the legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, in a press release on Monday. “He had gone nearly a year without a seizure, but staff failed to give him the medication that kept them under control. From then on, he had to worry every day that it would happen again.”
IDOC spokesperson Noelle Russell said the department did not have a statement on the allegations regarding its officers’ conduct.
Centurion Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuits, Grigoryan has epilepsy and has been prescribed an antiseizure drug called Keppra since 2020. Grigoryan is supposed to take two 1,000-milligram Keppra pills a day — one in the morning and one in the evening. If he were to miss one dose of the drug, the complaint stated, then Grigoryan could have a seizure.
Grigoryan started his detention at Miami Correctional Facility on Dec. 30, 2025. In the weeks after his detention at the prison began, Grigoryan noticed Centurion had employed an “insufficient” number of medical staff in D-Building, where he resided, the lawsuit states.
Because of this, prisoners had difficulty being seen by staff for medical issues and there were times when Centurion Health staff “simply were not present and available to meet the medical needs of the detainees,” the suit says.
On the morning of Jan. 22, 2026, Grigoryan was supposed to receive his morning dose of Keppra during breakfast between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. However, there were no Centurion staff available to give him the medication, the complaint stated.
Several hours later, around 9:30 a.m., Grigoryan suffered a severe seizure while in his D-Building cell. At some point during the seizure, Grigoryan hit his head, and correctional staff found him lying in a pool of blood. Grogroyan was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and returned to the prison the next day.
After Grigoryan returned to the prison from the hospital — and while he still felt effects from the seizure and his injuries, including having difficulty standing on his feet — several corrections officers moved him to another cell, according to the lawsuit. Grigoryan does not know the identities of the officers.
Grigoryan stood next to the locked cell door, asking the officers why he was being moved.
The complaint asserts that Grigoryan did not threaten the officers or forcibly resist them.
The officers then allegedly opened the cuffport — which is a rectangular opening in cell doors used to deliver prisoners’ meal trays — and pepper-sprayed Grigoryan in the eyes. The officers then came into the cell, handcuffed Grigoryan and removed him.
According to the complaint, it was Grigoryan’s understanding that after prisoners are pepper-sprayed, they are supposed to be provided a shower and an opportunity to wash off the residue promptly.
“Grigoryan was not provided this opportunity,” the complaint stated.
Instead, the complaint continued, the officers took Grigoryan to a new cell in B-Building, where he attempted to wash himself in the sink.
Grigoryan, who was freed from custody on May 15 after a successful habeas corpus petition, now says the officers used an unjustified, unreasonable and unconstitutional use of force against him.
The ACLU’s Falk called the officers’ actions “indefensible.”
The Indiana Lawyer previously reported that detainees — including ICE and possibly traditional inmates — had been subjected to medical delays, flooded cells and improper nutrition.
ICE has previously denied allegations of subpar conditions.
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