Confident and optimistic, Amanda Knox waits to hear the final verdict

The best friend of Amanda Knox says she has been transformed by prison, and is now waiting for the acquittal she and her family expect. Every week Madison Paxton takes the bus from the centre of Perugia for the 20-minute ride to the new jail on the outskirts of the city where her friend Amanda Knox is incarcerated for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher . They sit across a bare table in the visitors’ room for an hour. Knox is telling Paxton of her hopes for freedom and talking about the prison life she believes will soon be over. From the windows of the cell she shares with three other women Knox can glimpse the lush Umbrian countryside and dreams of walking through the hills. After months of making weekly visits to Perugia’s Capanne jail, Paxton has seen Knox transformed. She knows her well from university days in America and recognises that the dark moods that followed her conviction have been replaced with bubbling optimism. The nickname of “Bambi” given to Knox by her jailers now seems very appropriate. “When people are writing books about you, about the flaws you had when you were 20, you either fall apart or get stronger,” said Paxton, a 24-year-old, who gave up her life in America in November to be close to her friend. “But Amanda has had four years to really reflect on who she is, a time no one else gets. Her character is really honed and she is more confident now than she ever

Posted by on September 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.