Federal Jury Returns $763,000 Verdict Against Centurion for Indiana Prisoner’s Denied Kidney Disease Treatment
by Chuck Sharman
On September 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana entered judgment for $763,000 against state Department of Correction (DOC) healthcare contractor Centurion Health of Indiana, after a jury found its personnel liable for failing to provide adequate treatment to state prisoner Austin Lee Monteiro, 47, for his painful kidney disease.
According to the complaint he later filed, Monteiro was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2008, before his 2018 incarceration in the DOC. He reminded Centurion Dr. Jason Carter of the diagnosis in March 2023, when Monteiro visited the medical unit at New Castle Correctional Facility complaining of kidney pain. Carter referred him to an offsite nephrologist, Dr. Lori Wanko, who recommended Tolvapton, a drug to reduce cyst growth and ease his pain. In July, Dr. Stephanie Riley, Centurion’s statewide director, approved an exception to the formulary for the drug. But by August, Monteiro had still not received it.
Suddenly, Carter said that he was not authorized to prescribe it, initiating another delay while he obtained a prescription from Wanko. But Carter also had blood drawn from Monteiro for the necessary lab work to begin the treatment. It still didn’t happen. At the end of the month, Riley sent word that the formulary exception was not approved, after all, because Centurion believed the drug wouldn’t benefit Monteiro—even though it was the only treatment available for his polycystic kidney disease. Carter also let it slip that Tolvapton cost $20,000 a month, making him suspect that money was the real reason Riley rescinded approval for the drug.
Meanwhile, Monteiro was denied any treatment but over-the-counter acetaminophen for the chronic pain associated with his condition. When Carter finally prescribed a stronger narcotic pain reliever in November, he was promptly terminated by Centurion. Out of options and advocates at that point—his weight also dropping as the chronic pain took its toll on his eating—Monteiro filed suit pro se in the district court pursuant to U.S.C. § 1983, accusing Centurion and its employees of deliberate indifference to his serious medical need, in violation of the Eight Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The case proceeded to Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and on February 2, 2026, the district court granted dismissal of all claims except one against Riley for denying Monteiro access to Tolvapton. The prisoner had also sought an injunction ordering her to provide the drug, but that was denied in the same order. However, his request for pro bono counsel was granted, and the district court appointed attorneys Jonathan Little, Annmarie Alonso, Dan Canon and Jessica Wegg of Saeed & Little LLP in Indianapolis. The case proceeded to a two-day trial on September 1, at the conclusion of which the jury returned its verdict for the Plaintiff. His attorneys then filed a motion seeking $88,238.05 in fees and $4,772.10 in costs, which remains pending. See: Monteiro v. Carter, USDC (S.D. Ind.), Case No. 1:23-cv-01752.
The case highlights a thorny problem for prisoners who need cutting edge medication from a privately contracted healthcare provider: As Centurion argued to the district court, it wasn’t just the cost of Tolvapton that was prohibitive but that prescribing it would require “extremely close monitoring” and “rigorous blood testing” for Monteiro, things “impractical or infeasible” in prison. Though denying it to him has now cost the firm over three-quarters of a million dollars, it still wasn’t clear if Monteiro would get it before his release in August 2033.
“I wish I could say that this is going to send a message for Centurion,” Little said, but he also told Indianapolis Star that he hoped the verdict would prove “a big step in getting Centurion out of Indiana.”
The Virginia-based company has held the DOC contract since 2021, and its most recent renewal, worth $1 billion, included a promise by the state to stop levying fines for failing to maintain staffing levels. Those fines have totaled over $6 million per year, but they hadn’t prodded the firm to fill vacant slots, so the administration of Gov. Mike Braun (R) gave up and dropped them. A July investigation by the Star found that Centurion short-staffing in DOC lockups was especially severe in Miami Correctional Facility, a massive prison operated under contract by The GEO Group and nicknamed the “Speedway Slammer” by federal immigration enforcement officials, who rent space there to detain migrant detainees, as reported elsewhere in this issue. [See: PLN, Oct. 2026, p.24.]
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