Prison Diaries

Amanda Knox likes the view from her prison cell. From the high-security Capanne jail—home to, among others, convicted drug dealers, mafiosi and killers—the 20-year-old Seattle native held in connection with the murder of British student Meredith Kercher overlooks a landscape of rolling Umbrian hills, fragrant pine trees and a collection of olive groves. She stares out of her window often, she notes in a diary from prison, "and, when I have an hour of outside time, I sit with my face in the sun, so I can get a tan."

Knox has been in Capanne since Nov. 9, the week after Kercher's killers slit her throat and left her to bleed to death in a house the two students shared in the Italian college town of Perugia. Prosecutors believe the Briton died during an extreme sex session that went badly wrong. Kercher's former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, and an alleged drug dealer called Rudy Hermann Guede, are also being held in the jail in connection with the murder.

None of the trio has yet been charged in the case, leaving them in a limbo that has led to a bizarre proxy legal battle of leaked documents and personal diaries. Italian newspapers have posted confidential judges' reports online, downloadable in PDF form, and published images from closed-circuit (CCTV) surveillance footage showing Knox and Sollecito buying thong underwear two days after Kercher's killing. In one leaked statement, store owner Carlo Maria Scotto di Rinaldi told police that the couple was laughing and joking as they were holding up the lingerie. "I heard her as she was choosing the underwear—particularly the G-string—and they were ready to pay," he said. "In front of the till, she whispered, 'Afterwards I'm going to take you home so we can have wild sex together'."

In the latest development, an investigator's report disclosed that Sollecito's DNA was found on the bloodied fastener of the murder victim's bra. Guede's DNA was found alongside—a finding that, according to prosecutors, tied them both to the crime scene. Before that, traces of both Knox and Kercher's blood were identified from samples taken from a bathroom sink, implying, according to the detective who signed the report, "If Amanda Knox did not take part in the murder, she was at least present at the scene of the crime."

With the investigators' material painting such an unflattering picture of Knox and Sollecito—who say they have since broken up—their respective lawyers have now released the couple's own account of the events of the night of Nov. 1. These have come in the form of diaries compiled during their time in prison. Knox records her thoughts in English in a "Spider-Man 2" notebook titled in Italian "La Mia Prigione" (My Prison); Sollecito compiles his in a tightly written Italian text called "Notes on a Prison Journey."

Both try to deny suggestions that they were involved in the murder. Knox, who called herself "Foxy Knoxy" on her MySpace page, says she is "annoyed that I am being called a liar. They think that I am involved and that's sad because it means that they have no idea of what happened … They don't know who killed my friend Meredith." Later, she mentions the attention she has received from men: "I have received letters from fellow inmates and admirers telling me that I am hot and they want to have sex with me. I have also had insulting letters."