American Teen Skylar Mack, Who Broke COVID-19 Quarantine In Cayman Islands, Released From Prison

Skylar Mack, a college student from Loganville, Georgia, and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, a professional jet-ski racer from the Cayman Islands, were released from prison on Jan. 15, according to the Cayman Islands Government.

Mack was arrested in November because she broke quarantine after arriving in the Cayman Islands. She was supposed to quarantine for 14-days, but after two days, on Nov. 29, she left her residence and removed her geo-fencing bracelet to watch her boyfriend compete in a jet-ski event. She was detained at the event. Ramgeet was charged with aiding and abetting Mack.

Mack told ABC News that she could not think of a good reason for her actions.

“Knowing that I could have been the reason that somebody could even just been sick eats me up,” she said.

Both people were placed in a 14-day quarantine, which ended on Dec. 15. They both plead guilty to the charges against them. Initially, they were sentenced to a $2,600 fine and 40 hours of community service each, but the Cayman Islands director of public prosecutions, Patrick Moran, filed a notice of appeal saying the sentences were too lenient.

“The anger, the disappointment — it’s all justified,” Mack told ABC News. “I deserved it. I was like, ‘You know what? I made this mistake, and it sucks, but you did it to yourself.”

The couple was re-sentenced to four months in prison, but they appealed and were re-sentenced again to two months in prison. On Jan. 7, the Cayman Islands Government released a statement saying the couple would be released from prison early after their applications for pre-discharge leave were approved.

“Both will be released from prison on 15 January and Miss Mack will depart Cayman that same day. At that time both will have completed their sentence in accordance with Cayman Law. Neither have received any special dispensation,” read the statement.

“It was a selfish decision,” said Mack. “There’s no reason that I could 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.”