Walton County

“A selfish decision:” 18-year-old jailed for breaking Cayman Islands quarantine speaks for 1st time

LOGANVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia 18-year-old jailed for breaking quarantine rules in the Cayman Islands is speaking for the first time since her release from prison.

In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, Skylar Mack admits she was wrong and made “a selfish decision” by violating Cayman Islands’ quarantine rules, which eventually landed her in prison.

The Loganville 18-year-old returned home to Georgia on Friday after 32 days in prison.

“It eats me up,” Mack told GMA.

“It was a selfish decision. 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.”

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Mack traveled to the Caribbean island on Nov. 27 and was required to quarantine for 14-days.

According to officials, just two days and a negative COVID-19 test later, she removed her wrist monitor and left quarantine to watch her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, compete in a jet ski race.

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The couple was said to have interacted with others for more than seven hours without masks, forcing other families at that event to later quarantine.

Mack told ABC News she thought her negative test meant she was OK.

“It was a conscious decision,” Mack said. “I can’t give you any good reason for it. … I had signed the paper.”

Mack and Ramgeet were initially ordered to pay a $2,600 fine and serve 40 hours of community service, but prosecutors appealed, calling the ruling too lenient.

On the appeal, the couple was sentenced to four months in prison. The Cayman’s highest court then reduced the sentences to two months.

Mack’s family asked for the U.S. government to intervene, as they believed the Cayman authorities were making an example out of her. The family reached out to President Donald Trump and received support for leniency from former Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler.

Mack told ABC News her experience should serve as a reminder that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t over along with the need to take quarantine measures seriously.

“I would have never been able to live with myself knowing that I could have been the reason that somebody could have even just been sick,” she said. “The action itself was serious, but like how much worse it could have been.”

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ABC News contributed to this report.