Georgia student jailed in the Cayman Islands for violating quarantine rules returns to the US

An 18-year-old student from Georgia who was jailed in the Cayman Islands for violating coronavirus quarantine rules has returned to the United States after more than a month behind bars.

Skylar Mack returned to the U.S. on Friday after spending 32 days in prison in the Cayman Islands. Mack told “Good Morning America” in an interview released Tuesday that she “deserved” the sentence.

“I made this mistake, and it sucks, but you did it to yourself,” Mack said.

Mack, a pre-med student at Mercer University in Atlanta, arrived in the Cayman Islands on Nov. 27 to visit her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramjeet, for a watercrafting competition. Mack was supposed to quarantine for two weeks under the country’s coronavirus regulations, but after testing negative for COVID-19 and two days of isolation, she removed a wrist monitor and broke the mandatory quarantine period.

The woman told “Good Morning America” that she thought she could practice social distancing and other health precautions outside at the beach while watching the competition.

“I would have never been able to live with myself knowing that I could have been the reason that somebody even could have just been sick. It eats me up,” Mack said. 

“It was a selfish decision,” Mack added. “There’s no reason that I can give you to grant me a second chance. I don’t expect anybody to ever forgive me, but I would like for them to at least let me be able to show them that I did learn from it.”

Mack and Ramgeet reportedly spent several hours mingling with others without social distancing or wearing masks.  

The couple was initially sentenced to four months in jail, but the sentence was later reduced to two months. The Cayman Islands allows individuals who serve 60 percent of their sentence to be released conditionally if the sentence is less than a year, NBC News reported.

Mack’s family initially appealed to the Trump administration for help after she was sentenced to four months in prison. Jeanne Mack, Skylar Mack’s grandmother, wrote a letter to President Trump requesting his assistance last year. 

The government of the Cayman Islands confirmed earlier this month that Mack and Ramgeet would be released on Jan. 15.