A Maryland woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that her constitutional rights were violated after she was forced to give birth in a concrete jail cell without any assistance or access to medical support.

After being arrested and jailed for a probation violation just days before her due date, Jazmin Valentine went into labor hours after her arrest on the evening of July 3, 2021. She eventually gave birth just after midnight on July 4, 2021. Named in the lawsuit are Washington County, Philadelphia-based Medical provider PrimeCare Medica, five nurses who were employed by the county, and three jailhouse staff members.

In addition to her own constitutional rights being violated, Valentine details that her child's constitutional rights were also violated. Because her baby did not have access to adequate medical care, her baby developed a staph infection during birth in the unsanitary jailhouse conditions. The staph infection was highly resistant to antibiotics, causing the baby to suffer unnecessarily, according to Valentine.

The lawsuit details, “Ms. Valentine experienced one of the most profound and painful moments in anyone’s life, alone, on a filthy cell floor with no sanitation, no medical care, and no assistance of any kind. She had not so much as a blanket for comfort,” the lawsuit alleged.

According to the complaint and Valentine's accounts, shortly after being arrested, she told deputies and the medical staff that she was days away from her due date. After being locked in the jail cell, Valentine went into labor.

After alerting staff that she was in active labor and that her contractions were getting intense, Valentine claims the staff members dismissed her pleas for help. The lawsuit details that the nurses told her she was “not in labor” but was instead going through a drug withdrawal. The complaint details that at one point, a nurse allegedly responded to Valentine's pleas with “You were checked out on day shift and you are not in active labor, you are withdrawing. You are not going out to the hospital.”

After hearing her cries, nearby inmates were able to call Valentine's boyfriend and alert him that she was in labor. Despite calling the jailhouse and deputies, Valentine's boyfriend was unable to get ahold of the jailhouse, deputies, or Valentine herself.

The lawsuit goes on to explain that a nurse allegedly laughed at Valentine as her labor progressed. “Ms. Valentine overheard a PrimeCare Medical nurse laughing while talking about Ms. Valentine’s boyfriend calling the jail in an effort to obtain medical attention for the mother of his child,” says the complaint. The nurses allegedly continued to laugh, making comments that Valentine was “Playing games trying to get out of cell.”

At one point, Valentine delivered her amniotic sac and slid it under the jailhouse door to show staff members that she was in the process of giving birth. Only after Valentine delivered her baby herself did a jailhouse staff member notice that she had given birth, a full 15 minutes after the baby had already been delivered.

It was at this time that jailhouse staff contacted the hospital, and about 40 minutes after the birth an ambulance arrived to take Valentine and her baby for a medical examination at the hospital. It would be another 30 minutes before both mother and daughter were finally examined.

According to the lawsuit, Valentine is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the named defendants.

Her lawyers explained that “what should have been one of the happiest days of her life was instead a day of terror, pain, and humiliation that continues to cause her ongoing emotional trauma.”