NewsNation

US teen jailed for violating COVID-19 measures in Cayman Islands gets reduced sentence

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (NewsNation Now) — The Cayman Islands Court of Appeals has reduced the prison sentence for an American college student who violated their strict COVID-19 measures.

Skylar Mack, 18, will now serve two months in prison instead of four months. She has already served one week.


“She’s very apologetic. She knows she made a mistake,” Mack’s grandmother Jeanne Mack told NewsNation.

Mack, who is enrolled as a pre-med student at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, arrived in the Cayman Islands on Nov. 27 and was supposed to undergo a two-week quarantine as mandated by the government, which electronically tracks anyone who arrives in the British Caribbean territory.

However, she broke quarantine on Nov. 29 when her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, picked her up to attend a water sports event. Ramgeet is a Cayman Islands resident.

Mack and Ramgeet both pleaded guilty to breaking quarantine and will each serve two months in prison. Additionally, the couple had to provide 40 hours of community service and pay a $4,400 fine. Ramgeet was ordered to a two-month curfew that would start at 7 p.m.