A woman cried out for help for six hours as she was left by staff at a Maryland jail to give birth alone on the dirty floor of a solitary confinement cell, a lawsuit claims. Jazmin Valentine alleges nurses at the Washington County jail in Hagerstown dismissed her condition as withdrawal from drugs, not labor, and that other medical staff even laughed at her, saying she was simply trying to get out of her cell late at night in July 2021. Valentine even claims to have slid what she believed to be her baby’s amniotic sac under the cell door in a bid to prove that she was about to give birth. Another inmate in the jail heard Valentine’s cries and called Valentine’s boyfriend, who in turn contacted the jail to plead with staff to help her, the lawsuit claims. An ambulance was eventually called for Valentine after a jail deputy found her holding her baby in her cell about 15 minutes after giving birth. David Lane, the lawyer representing Valentine, says the case highlights issues with using private health care in jails and the attitude of correctional officers. “As long as jail and prison administrators view inmates as animals these kinds of things will continue to happen,” he said.