diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f8dbd67395..2422dc70eb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+## 0.15.5-dev0
+
+### Enhancements
+
+### Features
+
+### Fixes
+
+* **Downgrade NLTK dependency version for compatibility**. Due to the unavailability of `nltk==3.8.2` on PyPI, the NLTK dependency has been downgraded to `<3.8.2`. This change ensures continued functionality and compatibility.
+
+
 ## 0.15.4
 
 ### Enhancements
diff --git a/docker/rockylinux-9.2/Dockerfile b/docker/rockylinux-9.2/Dockerfile
index 18e9839005..3bce864e37 100644
--- a/docker/rockylinux-9.2/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/rockylinux-9.2/Dockerfile
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ RUN python3.10 -m pip install pip==${PIP_VERSION} && \
   dnf -y groupremove "Development Tools" && \
   dnf clean all
 
-RUN python3.10 -c "import nltk; nltk.download('punkt')" && \
-  python3.10 -c "import nltk; nltk.download('averaged_perceptron_tagger')"
+RUN python3.10 -c "from unstructured.nlp.tokenize import download_nltk_packages; download_nltk_packages()"
 
 FROM deps as code
 
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index f21db4fd37..7fa88148cd 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ mypy-extensions==1.0.0
     #   unstructured-client
 nest-asyncio==1.6.0
     # via unstructured-client
-nltk==3.8.2
+nltk==3.8.1
     # via -r ./base.in
 numpy==1.26.4
     # via -r ./base.in
diff --git a/unstructured/__version__.py b/unstructured/__version__.py
index 56b0a82573..5faa0051d8 100644
--- a/unstructured/__version__.py
+++ b/unstructured/__version__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.15.4"  # pragma: no cover
+__version__ = "0.15.5-dev0"  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/unstructured/nlp/tokenize.py b/unstructured/nlp/tokenize.py
index da68c2540d..edbb276c62 100644
--- a/unstructured/nlp/tokenize.py
+++ b/unstructured/nlp/tokenize.py
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@
 
 CACHE_MAX_SIZE: Final[int] = 128
 
-NLTK_DATA_FILENAME = "nltk_data_3.8.2.tar.gz"
+NLTK_DATA_FILENAME = "nltk_data.tgz"
 NLTK_DATA_URL = f"https://utic-public-cf.s3.amazonaws.com/{NLTK_DATA_FILENAME}"
-NLTK_DATA_SHA256 = "ba2ca627c8fb1f1458c15d5a476377a5b664c19deeb99fd088ebf83e140c1663"
+NLTK_DATA_SHA256 = "126faf671cd255a062c436b3d0f2d311dfeefcd92ffa43f7c3ab677309404d61"
 
 
 # NOTE(robinson) - mimic default dir logic from NLTK
@@ -114,10 +114,10 @@ def _download_nltk_packages_if_not_present():
 
     tagger_available = check_for_nltk_package(
         package_category="taggers",
-        package_name="averaged_perceptron_tagger_eng",
+        package_name="averaged_perceptron_tagger",
     )
     tokenizer_available = check_for_nltk_package(
-        package_category="tokenizers", package_name="punkt_tab"
+        package_category="tokenizers", package_name="punkt"
     )
 
     if not (tokenizer_available and tagger_available):