NCLEJ Seeks Court Order to Prevent IDOC from Further Harming Disabled Client
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2025
Contact: Patrick Fowler, Communications Strategist | fowler@nclej.org
ILLINOIS – The National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ) moved for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and its contractors to secure critical disability accommodations for a person on Mandatory Supervised Release (MSR). Despite their legal obligations, IDOC and its contractors often refuse to provide even the most basic disability accommodations to people on MSR. Instead of accommodating people while they are living in the community, IDOC and its contractors often send people back to prison in retaliation for their requests for reasonable accommodations.
Preliminary injunctions are temporary court orders issued early in a lawsuit to prevent plaintiffs from being harmed before a final judgment in the case. NCLEJ’s motion requests that IDOC and other defendants be compelled to immediately provide disability accommodations for our client, Mark Davenport, a disabled individual on MSR who was unnecessarily and illegally sent back to prison for four months in retaliation for requesting disability accommodations at his former MSR residence. Mr. Davenport remains unaccommodated for his disabilities at his current MSR residence, which has substantially worsened his pain and ability to engage in daily activities. With an upcoming surgery scheduled, his need for accommodation is even greater, as is the risk that his housing provider will send him back to prison to avoid providing these accommodations. What Mr. Davenport is experiencing is the product of IDOC’s broader practice of refusing to ensure its contractors provide accommodations to people on MSR, which has led to botched discharges—and reincarceration—for hundreds of people with disabilities across the state in recent years.
“Each day that IDOC and its transitional housing program providers refuse to provide Mr. Davenport with reasonable accommodations is another day Mr. Davenport lives in extreme pain,” said Taylor Foster, Legal Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. “We are urgently asking the court to prevent further diminution in Mr. Davenport’s health, especially in light of his upcoming surgery, by compelling Defendants to comply with their obligations under federal disability and housing rights statutes, and to enjoin them from any illegal attempts to evict and reincarcerate Mr. Davenport for requesting reasonable accommodations.”
Read the motion for preliminary injunction here.
Background
MSR is a form of mandatory parole added onto every incarcerated person’s sentence in Illinois. IDOC is required to release incarcerated people on MSR following the term of their imprisonment. People in IDOC custody must have an IDOC-approved host site to be released on MSR, and loss of one’s host site constitutes a violation of their MSR conditions. In February 2025, Mark Davenport completed his sentence of incarceration and was released from prison on MSR. He has multiple chronic health conditions, including severe degenerative disc disease that causes severe pain and limits major life activities.
Despite IDOC knowing of Mr. Davenport’s disabilities while incarcerated, IDOC did not ensure his discharge location—which was a transitional housing program funded and operated by IDOC itself—provided him with the disability accommodations he was entitled to. MSR host site Henry’s Sober Living House (HSL) placed Mr. Davenport on the third floor and denied him a first-floor room placement and other accommodations despite him struggling to walk and stand. When Mr. Davenport asked for simple accommodations for his condition, he was met with a two-worded response from HSL staff: “Hell no.”
HSL’s disability discrimination exacerbated Mr. Davenport’s pain, leading to an emergency room visit after the first two days. HSL later evicted Mr. Davenport in retaliation for his continued requests for reasonable accommodation. HSL’s eviction meant that Mr. Davenport did not have an approved host site, which was a violation of his MSR resulting in his return to state prison, where he remained for an additional four months.
In July 2025, IDOC sent Mr. Davenport to MSR host site Next Step Recovery (NSR), where he has again been denied reasonable accommodations. NSR has also threatened to evict Mr. Davenport back to IDOC, admitting that NSR is “not ADA compliant.” Mr. Davenport is still at NSR, unaccommodated, living in pain, and fearful that he will be sent back to prison.
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and monetary damages for the disability discrimination to which Mr. Davenport has been and continues to be subjected. Mr. Davenport seeks an order securing his needed accommodations and ending IDOC’s policies and practices that deny people disability accommodations in IDOC-funded and -operated transitional housing programs.
“As a long-time prisoner, I am still facing challenges after a 40-year down payment on my liberty. IDOC has left me to my own efforts. They knew I would face challenges, and their failures to help me have been egregious,” said Mark Davenport. “[These transitional housing providers] have been fully aware of my conditions and the pain I experience from not having the accommodations that I need, and they have done nothing. Some mornings I can’t even get out of bed, but they still take no steps to mitigate the problem.”
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice is a legal nonprofit organization that advances disability, racial, and economic justice for low-income families, individuals, and communities across the country through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing. Founded in 1965, NCLEJ fights to protect access to critical benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, and childcare, protect low-wage workers’ rights and safety, advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, and fights unlawful debt collection.
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