Skylar Mack, a pre-medic student at Mercer University, left for the islands on Nov. 27 after testing negative for Covid-19 at home, her grandmother, Jeanne Mack, told CNN.
When Mack landed, she was given another Covid-19 test, which was negative, and was told to remain in isolation for two weeks. Instead, she decided to go to her boyfriend’s jet ski competition two days later.
“In her mind, as long as she stayed away from everyone else, she would be okay to watch her friend’s race, it was their big national final race, the last race of the year, big deal,” said her grandmother.
Racing participants who knew Mack reported her isolation and officials arrested her.
According to her grandmother, Mack admitted in court that she ‘screwed up’. She was initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and sentenced to pay a fine to cover her mandatory quarantine provision.
“These violations should have been addressed with much stricter measures,” Moran reportedly told the judge. “When it comes to deterrence, the penalties imposed are likely to have little or no effect on other like-minded individuals.”
According to the Cayman Compass, Judge Roger Chapple heard the appeal in Grand Court on Monday and handed down the revised sentence on Tuesday morning. He reportedly stated that he understood the need for a balancing act, but felt that “the seriousness of the offense was such that the only appropriate punishment would have been one of immediate imprisonment.”
Mack’s grandmother told CNN that officials had called Mack’s actions premeditated because she had called the public health department to detach the location tracker’s bracelet the day before her violation. But her family says Mack sent them photos of the bracelet that cut into her skin.
‘She did it wrong. We have no doubt what she did wrong. I just don’t think punishment will meet that, ”said Jeanne Mack.
Mack was immediately taken to prison, where she is in the general population. According to her family, she can call them daily.
“She cries every time she calls home. She hasn’t been able to eat since they put her in jail,” her grandmother told CNN.
According to the family, the U.S. Embassy in the Cayman Islands told Mack an example is being made.
“I really believe she had to get in trouble because she did something wrong. I don’t believe she had to go to prison for four months for one offense,” said Jeanne Mack.