Was Jane Campos Fired for Telling the Truth?

photograph by Alan Pogue

Talking to reporters was part of Jane Campos' job. As a sergeant at the Bastrop County Jail, she had helped several reporters interview Cuban inmates at the jail. So why was Campos fired in July, just three weeks after she was quoted in an article that appeared in the San Antonio Current?

Campos contends that the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which pays Bastrop County to incarcerate the Cuban inmates, didn't like the article, the first line of which quotes Campos as saying that in theory, the Cubans "could be locked up here forever."

The article — "Cubans Behind Bars," written by Louis Dubose, the editor of TheTexas Observer — has become a key element in a lawsuit filed by Campos against Bastrop County, and Bastrop Co. Sheriff Richard Hernandez. The suit, filed in October in federal district court in Austin, alleges the sheriff fired Campos for being too critical of INSpolicies. It claims that the county violated Campos'rights under the First and 14th Amendments, and asks the court to force the county to reinstate Campos in her job at the jail. If that is not possible, the suit asks for "reasonable damages," but does not specify a dollar amount.

Campos "didn't say anything outrageous," says Dubose. "I got all the forms to the INS and the Bastrop County Jail. She did a cursory interview before I talked to the inmates. She was completely relaxed when I talked to her. She did a candid on-the-record interview in which she was critical, not of her boss, but of poor penology, of putting these guys in indefinite lockup in a county jail which is not designed for long-term incarceration."

On July 2, according to the lawsuit, Campos — who had worked at the jail for nine years and had attained the rank of sergeant — was called into the office of her boss, Capt. Charlie Littleton, the county's jail administrator. Littleton handed her a copy of the Current story and ordered her to read it. "After plaintiff finished reading the article, Capt. Littleton told her that she could either resign or be discharged," the lawsuit states. "When plaintiff asked as to the basis of this drastic and unexpected action, Capt. Littleton replied that INS was upset with the article."

When asked if the INS demanded that Campos be terminated, Littleton told the Chronicle that "Nothing like that was ever said. I can guarantee you that." He then added that Sheriff Hernandez has the "authority to hire and fire whomever he pleases."

The documents filed by the county after Campos' firing are cryptic. On July 31, Sheriff Hernandez, in a form filed with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, wrote that Campos was terminated for "violation of department regulations concerning press release." Two weeks earlier, county jail officials had sent Campos a letter which told her that "it is no longer mutually beneficial for you to continue employment" at the jail.

Campos, who is being represented by two Austin attorneys, Malcolm Greenstein and Joe Crews, has been out of work since being fired. And even if she wins her lawsuit, she doubts she will ever get her job back. But she has no regrets. "I'd probably do exactly the same thing [again]," she said, "because I don't feel like I did anything wrong." Depositions in the lawsuit are expected to begin late next month. — Robert Bryce