BahamasLawFirm
Every once in a while, while speed reading through the local dailies to catch the latest headlines worthy of gossip amidst fellow colleagues, a news report concerning the arrest of a local resident or a group of tourists for failing to declare a certain amount of cash to US Customs officers at the airport. Usually the details of the story would proceed at the time the Defendant is before the Magistrate Court where a guilty plea would be entered, followed by the accused reasons for making the declaration. Whatever the Magistrate's says afterwards is stated in quote and a sentence is handed down, usually in the form of a stiff fine to be paid within a certain time or endure a short stay at the world famous Fox Hill Prison, nicknamed Fox 'Hell' Prison for obvious reasons. Certainly the final blow in sentencing would be the eventual confiscation of the cash taken away from the accused. A daunting portrait of the Accused in handcuffs led by a squad of officers accompanies the report and plastered on the newspaper's website as a 'parting gift', the unfortunate byproduct of the Bahamian criminal justice system where a sunkissed visitor enjoying the proceeds of a lucky streak at the blackjack table becomes the media's latest convict. It is a subject less discussed by residents, who would not hesitate to travel to Miami with their entire savings on school shopping trips, buying groceries for the tuck shop, or for the occasional family trip with the extended family.