Student Forgotten in California Jail Cell by the DEA for 5 Days Without Food or Water

Crazy story here from late April that I hadn’t heard about before. Daniel Chong will receive a $4.1 million settlement as compensation for being forgotten about in a holding cell for 5 days without food or water. In fact, his situation became so desperate that he was forced to drink his own urine in order to survive.

While a cash payout should be part of any sort of justice for Daniel, I wonder if any of the individuals responsible for this will be held accountable? That to me is the key point. Just as bankers simply pay a fine for egregious crimes that represent only a small part of their profit from the activity (but almost never face criminal charges), so too it seems the police and government bureaucrats almost never face serious repercussions for any their actions, no matter how heinous or unconstitutional. From the Daily Mail:

The college student forgotten in a holding cell for five days without food or water, took a $4.1 million settlement from the Justice Department his lawyer announced Tuesday.

24-year-old University of California, San Diego student Daniel Chong was arrested on April 21, 2012 as part of a major drug bust.

He was taken to county jail and subsequently forgotten in a cell for five days – starving and hallucinating.

Mr Chong’s attorney Eugene Iredale said that the Justice Department is still trying to figure out how Mr Chong slipped from their notice, but the inspector general still has no answers.

You don’t say…

The DEA did not have a system in place at the time on how to treat detainees, but has since installed camera in each of the cells and holds daily inspections.

Mr Iredale said that no one has been disciplined for the drug bust, and that no criminal charges will be filed.

Mr Chong said federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents told him he would be let go. One agent even promised to drive him home from the DEA field office in Kearny Mesa, he said.

Instead, he was returned to a holding cell to await release.

He kicked and screamed as loud as he could, but apparently, his cries for help went unheard.

‘I had to recycle my own urine,’ he said. ‘I had to do what I had to do to survive.’

When he was found on April 25, he was taken to a hospital and treated for cramps, dehydration and a perforated lung – the result of ingesting the broken glass.

Don’t worry, I’m sure that somehow, someway, the DEA prevented a terrorist attack by doing all of this.

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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