The family of an American college student is appealing to the U.S. government for help as she faces a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to breaking the Cayman Islands' mandatory 14-day Covid-19 isolation protocols for visitors.
"She just wants to come home," 18-year-old Skylar Mack's grandmother, Jeanne Mack, told the "Today" show on Monday.
"She knows she made a mistake, she owns to up to that, but she's pretty hysterical right now."
Skylar is a pre-med student from Georgia. She traveled to visit her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, who was in the Cayman Islands for a jet-skiing competition.
Mack did not isolate for the mandatory 14 days.
Instead, Mack said she isolated for two days and tested negative twice for coronavirus before abandoning her tracking device and leaving isolation to attend her boyfriend's jet-skiing competition.
Mack was sentenced to prison last week.
Jonathon Hughes, the attorney representing Mack and her boyfriend, said four months in prison — an upgraded sentence from community service — would have "a particularly harsh effect on her."
Her family said they appealed directly to President Donald Trump, whose office wrote back that her case would be forwarded to the "appropriate" federal agency, likely the U.S. State Department.
