Newsweek
By Barbie Nadeau | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 10, 2009

Nuclear-Family Fallout

Regardless of the verdict, the trial of Amanda Knox has ruined the lives of almost everybody involved in it. 

The Tabloid Trial of ‘Foxy Knoxy’

Suspects, victims and legal foes behind Amanda Knox’s bizarre trial for the murder of her roommate in Perugia, Italy

It has been a long hot summer for American murder suspect Amanda Knox, currently living in an Italian prison cell. Her parents are in the United States, her trial (she is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in November 2007) is on hold for the Italian holidays, and there is no air conditioning in Capanne Prison. Temperatures there have hovered in the upper 90s for most of August, and, like many Italian prisons, Capanne is seriously overcrowded. There are 485 detainees stuffed inside a facility built for 284. In August, nine guards suffered smoke inhalation after angry inmates started a fire and staged a mini-riot. (Knox was not among those involved, but she described the frightening incident to friends.) “You can imagine how hard it is to control these criminals who live in seven-square-meter cells when temperatures are unbearable,” says Francesco Petrelli, who represents prison guards. “The situation is extremely difficult for guards, but it’s worse for the detainees whose only outlet is to argue and fight with each other. It is bad for everyone.”

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