Quotes from Demico Boothe

You don't want the decisions about your children's lives to be in my hands or any other judge's hands. We don't know your kids, we don't understand your kids. You're five minutes on my docket. We're going to make the best decision we can, but we don't love them."–Judge Lynn Toler, from the Divorce Court TV show2

My beloved daughter, Oryanna Elizabeth Davis (Elizabeth is my mother's name) was born on November 11, 2001 while I was serving yet another sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for something I did not do and could not have done, even if I had wanted to. And the judge, prosecutor, my probation officer, and the arresting Secret Service officers all knew it.

I fathered a child, my first one, during those sixty days that I was a "free" man. My beloved daughter, Oryanna Elizabeth Davis (Elizabeth is my mother's name) was born on November 11, 2001 while I was serving yet another sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for something I did not do and could not have done, even if I had wanted to. And the judge, prosecutor, my probation officer, and the arresting Secret Service officers all knew it.

I had learned firsthand from my first release from prison that living-wage-paying jobs and black ex-felons don't go together in America. (I specifically say black ex-felons because studies have shown that white male ex-felons oftentimes have better paying job prospects and offers than blacks males with clean records or even college degrees. 4)

Yet and still, from the very first month that I stepped foot out of prison that second time, I have been under constant threat of re-incarceration, but not for committing crimes. That threat comes from the U.S. child support system—the only area in my life where the real prospect of me returning to a prison cell has been a viable possibility.