Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 800-656-4673.
(NewsNation) — Amanda Knox, who was convicted of murder and then acquitted, tells NewsNation she’s in contact to this day with the Italian prosecutor who put her in jail.
Knox, who is promoting her new book “Free: My Search for Meaning,” said Tuesday on NewsNation’s “Banfield,” that “he texted me today. He really wants to be my friend and consistently informs me that he cares about me and wants me to be happy.”
Giuliano Mignini, who once portrayed Knox as a murderer, now admits he would not prosecute her if the case were reopened today, according to Knox.
Knox said she initially reached out to Mignini hoping for an apology but instead found a nuanced connection.
“He was deeply moved by the fact that I genuinely wanted to know him as a human being, because he never really had been interested to know me as a human being,” Knox said.
Though Mignini has not explicitly apologized, he has acknowledged that Knox was not the person he thought he was prosecuting.
“He did not say, ‘I’m sorry.’ He did not say ‘I was wrong.’ He did say, ‘You are not the person that I thought I was prosecuting,'” Knox told NewsNation.
What happened to Amanda Knox?
She was exonerated in the 2007 killing of her British flatmate, Meredith Kercher.
Knox was recently convicted of slander in Italy for a charge related to her original murder case. The conviction stems from accusing an innocent man of killing her roommate 17 years ago — a crime for which she spent four years in prison but was ultimately cleared of in 2015.
Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend at the time, also spent four years in prison after initially being convicted of Kercher’s murder before being exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015.
Amanda Knox reveals details about her time in Italian prison
Knox revealed disturbing details about her time in an Italian prison, describing a “dehumanizing” environment marked by sexual harassment and constant degradation.
“I was also being highly sexualized in the media as this whore who would go with anybody. I think some male guards got the idea that if they could just find themselves alone in a room with me, they could take advantage of that,” Knox told NewsNation.
She recounted multiple instances of inappropriate behavior by male prison guards, including being repeatedly brought to a private office and questioned about her sexual preferences by the prison’s second-in-command.
In one incident, a guard attempted to kiss her after plumbers left her cell. Knox described feeling “in slow motion and kind of underwater,” managing to dodge his advance and wait silently until a female guard arrived.
The systematic stripping and photographing of prisoners became a routine humiliation.
“The whole process of prison is utterly degrading,” Knox said. “You lose everything.”
Despite the challenging circumstances, Knox found unexpected purpose. Learning to speak Italian using a Harry Potter book, she began helping fellow prisoners by writing letters and translating, which helped her maintain a sense of value and dignity.
“It was actually really easy for me to find a sense of purpose in prison because of how limited it was and how few resources there were and how much need there was,” she explained.
Amanda Knox talks dealing with public perception and personal growth
Knox discussed the challenging aftermath of her wrongful conviction, including persistent internet trolls and media speculation. She drew parallels to other high-profile cases involving women, arguing that such narratives often stem from problematic gender stereotypes.
Now a mother and advocate, Knox has transformed her traumatic experience into a platform for criminal justice reform. She continues to speak out about her case and support other wrongfully convicted individuals.
“I have a daughter and a son. I’m a mom. I’m an advocate. I’m a writer,” Knox said. “I try to pass legislation to make the criminal justice system more fair and transparent.”
Knox described her approach to healing as finding value in difficult experiences and refusing to be defined solely by her past.
“To be free means to acknowledge all of these things,” she said. “It does not mean tolerating injustice, but accepting reality and defining my own life by the actions I take.”