DENVER — It’s believed to be one of the largest – if not the largest – settlement with an inmate in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Recently, a settlement of $1.1 million was reached and finalized between employees of Colorado DOC and John Snorksy, an inmate serving a 30-year prison sentence for an attempted kidnapping in Aurora in 2013.
Snorsky alleged in a federal lawsuit that Colorado DOC routinely left him vulnerable within the state prison system following his agreement to cooperate with investigators looking into the 2015 murder of inmate Joshua Edmonds inside Limon Correctional Facility.
In 2017, following a series of assaults on Snorksy over the span of multiple months, three inmates violently attacked Snorsky inside Colorado State Penitentiary.
“He was stabbed 43 times,” said Denver attorney Erica Grossman, who helped represent Snorksy in the federal lawsuit.
“He knew he was going to get attacked,” Grossman said.
Grossman said the attack was a direct result of Snorsky’s willingness to work with investigators on Edmonds’ murder.
“He was a very obvious target after that,” she said. “It’s not something you should have to ask for when you become an informant against a high-ranking white supremacist gang. He needed protective custody.”
In the lawsuit, originally handwritten and filed in the federal court system by Snorsky himself, Snorksy alleged DOC employees deliberately left him vulnerable to an increasingly violent series of assaults and attacks by inmates.
“He begged for protective custody,” Grossman said.
The day of the stabbings, Snorksy was asked “through the cell intercom system if he wanted to have his cell door opened so he could come out of his cell,” read the complaint.
“Mr. Snorsky repeatedly said he did not want his cell door opened because he feared he would be assaulted by other inmates in the day hall. Moments later, all of the inmates’ doors in Day Hall 5 (including Mr. Snorsky’s) were opened, and Mr. Snorsky saw other inmates waiting nearby to assault him.”
The lawsuit went on to allege “approximately 15-20” prison staff members “watched Mr. Snorksy being brutally assaulted.”
Snorksy’s 2013 kidnapping case received significant local media attention when it happened and when he was ultimately sentenced to 30 years. He’s not eligible for parole for another 10 years, according to the Colorado DOC.
It’s not yet clear how the money will be distributed to an inmate still serving a significant sentence within the system he ultimately sued.
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