Locked away on murder charges for four agonizing years in an Italian jail, Amanda Knox, the 24-year-old American exchange student, finally wins her freedom. This week's issue of PEOPLE magazine features exclusive interviews in the days before the verdict with Knox's mother, father, stepfather and sisters, who painted an intimate portrait of Amanda's life in prison, the measures she took to stave off despair, and what she will do once she returns to her Seattle home and resumes her life. "We won't know the extent to which Amanda has changed until she comes home," her mother, Edda Mellas, 49, a school teacher, who was in Perugia for the verdict, tells PEOPLE. "But I am most proud that in this time of pain, she has maintained her dignity and strength. She has survived something horrible." Knox's life changed forever on Nov. 2, 2007, when police found the body of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, her throat slashed, in the Perugia apartment she shared with Knox. Investigators charged Knox, her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 27, and another man, Rudy Guede, 24, with murder, and all three were found guilty. The verdict "was total devastation for Amanda," her father, Curt Knox, tells PEOPLE. "She is someone who wouldn't kill a spider." In Perugia's Capanne prison, Knox spent 22 hours most days inside an 18-ft.-by-13-ft. cell she shared with at least one and sometimes as many as three inmates. The cell had one bathroom, a small TV and an electric pan cooker; Knox added a tiny radio she bought for $20 at a prison shop. "Amanda would wake up early, make herself coffee, then go out for one of her two hours of outdoor time," says her mother. Knox tried to stay fit by walking in the 30-ft.-by-30 ft. courtyard and doing situps and push-ups in her cell. Still, she lost so much weight during her imprisonment that she dropped from a size 6 to a 0. Despite stress and bouts of sleeplessness, Knox, "had a schedule, which she maintained; she didn't just lay in bed all day like some inmates," her stepfather, Chris Mellas, tells PEOPLE. "She made a point of washing, changing her clothes, looking after herself. She tried to maintain a certain degree of dignity." Knox had only a handful of possessions – a few books, four CDs, some clothing – but still "she cleaned her cell frequently," says Chris. "She's a bit of a neatnik." A huge source of comfort was her limited contact with friends and family; she was allowed eight 1-hour visits and four 10-minute phone calls per month. Knox has three sisters – Deanna, 22, Ashley, 16, and Delaney, 13 – and "she hasn't been able to see them grow up, so we tried to tell her as much as we could to allow her to be a part of it," says Curt. Knox's visitors at the prison were allowed to sit around a table with her, though "usually we'd push it out of the way and sit in a circle holding hands or hugging," says Chris. "Her friend Madison would braid her hair, and I'd give her hand massages." Between visits, Knox sent dozens of letters home. "My most dearest Bean, I love you, how are you?" she wrote to Delaney this August. "I'm so anxious for the end of my appeal. I feel itchy with waiting…I'm afraid, but ok." What will they do once Amanda is back? "Eat a slice of chocolate birthday cake," says Delaney. "Give her a hug and then go rock climbing, because she loves it and I want her to teach me," says Ashley. How quickly Amanda can rebuild her life depends on how much her prison ordeal has changed her. Knox has been so affected by what happened that after finishing her studies, she might even "become an advocate for people who are wrongly imprisoned," says Curt. But for now, such decisions can wait; for now, Amanda Knox will focus on the simple joys of freedom. "Being with her family, catching up, seeing her two cousins, who were babies when she left," says her mother. "And she says she never wants to be behind a locked door, ever, in her life."Source: Starpulse.com
