A University of California San Diego student left unmonitored in a holding cell for five days by the Drug Enforcement Administration has settled a lawsuit for $ 4.1 million , his attorney said . `` This was a mistake of unbelievable and unimaginable proportions , '' attorney Julia Yoo said on Tuesday . Daniel Chong , 25 , drank his own urine to survive and even wrote a farewell note to his mother before authorities discovered him severely dehydrated after a 2012 drug raid in San Diego . He was held in a 5-by-10-foot cell with no windows but a peephole through the door . It had thick concrete walls and was situated in a narrow hallway with four other cells , isolated from the rest of the DEA facility , said Eugene Iredale , another of Chong 's attorneys . There was no toilet , only a metal bench on which he stood in a futile attempt to set off the sprinkler system with his cuffed hands , Chong told CNN affiliate KSWB . He kicked the door and yelled , anything to get someone 's attention , the station reported . `` I was screaming . I was completely insane , '' he told KWSB . One matter still unclear is why no one heard him . Chong told the San Diego Union-Tribune last year that he heard footsteps , muffled voices and the opening and closing of cell doors , even from the cell adjacent to his . Yet no one responded to the ruckus coming from inside his cell . Chong was detained on the morning of April 21 , 2012 , when DEA agents raided a house they suspected was being used to distribute MDMA , commonly known as `` ecstasy . '' A multiagency narcotics task force , including state agents , detained nine people and seized about 18,000 ecstasy pills , marijuana , prescription medications , hallucinogenic mushrooms , several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the house , according to the DEA . It was n't until the afternoon of Wednesday , April 25 , that an agent opened the steel door to Chong 's cell and found the handcuffed student , Iredale said last year . Upon his release , Mr. Chong told CNN affiliate KNSD that he was visiting a friend and knew nothing about the presence of drugs and guns . He was never formally arrested or charged , the DEA said . While detained , Chong had given up and accepted death , using a shard of glass from his glasses to carve `` Sorry Mom '' onto his arm as a farewell message , Yoo said . Chong lost 15 pounds and suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder , she said . `` He 's the strongest person I have ever met , '' Yoo said . `` As a result of his case , it 's one of the primary reasons the DEA placed a nationwide policy that calls on each agent at satellite offices to check on the well-being of prisoners in their cells on a daily basis , '' Yoo said . A DEA spokeswoman declined to comment extensively about the settlement and told CNN that a review of DEA procedures was conducted and submitted to the inspector general 's office at the Department of Justice . She also referred CNN to a previous statement . `` I am deeply troubled by the incident that occurred here , '' said DEA San Diego Special Agent in Charge William R. Sherman shortly after the incident . `` I extend my deepest apologies to the young man and want to express that this event is not indicative of the high standards that I hold my employees to . '' Since the incident , Chong has returned to complete his undergraduate degree at UC San Diego , Yoo said . `` He changed his major from engineering to economics and wants to finish school , pursue his career and help take care of his mother . ''
`` I was screaming . I was completely insane , '' student tells station . College student Daniel Chong was detained after a DEA raid at a friend 's house in 2012 . He was left in a cell for five days without food or water and lost 15 pounds , attorney says . Chong has since returned to university to earn an economics degree , attorney says .