By
The Associated Press
DANNEMORA, N.Y. - A free-lance TV producer was held hostage at a maximum security state prison for more than four hours yesterday by an inmate convicted of killing a New York City millionaire.
Inmate Kenneth Kimes, 25, held a pen to the throat of Maria Zone, and ordered her camera crew, filming for Court TV, to "back off," Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Flateau said.
Officials said he demanded that his co-defendant, his mother, not be extradited to California on murder charges for which both could face the death penalty.
An officer observing the interview pushed an alarm and called for help, and prison negotiators spoke with Kimes, Flateau said. He said Zone was freed by officers who distracted Kimes and then wrestled the inmate to the floor. Zone was not injured.
Network spokeswoman Betsy Vorce said Zone had interviewed Kimes several weeks ago without problem and returned yesterday to interview him on camera for "Crime Stories," a documentary-style program.
Kimes is serving a 125-year sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility. He and his mother, Sante Kimes, were convicted of killing Irene Silverman, 82, in a scheme to steal her $7 million Manhattan home. Silverman's body was never found. Their lawyers are planning appeals.
The Kimeses also have been indicted in the 1998 murder of a business associate in California.
The prison, near the Canadian border, houses 2,865 inmates.
"I am totally shocked by this," said Matthew Weissmann, one of Kimes' lawyers during trial. "In the two and a half years that I've known Kenny, he's never shown that he would do anything like this, despite the charges he was convicted on. He's never shown any violence. He must've totally snapped or something."
Kimes will be moved to disciplinary housing where he will be confined 23 hours a day, Flateau said.
The inmate had previously been interviewed by CNN's Larry King and "Details" magazine. Yesterday, "Details" released letters in which Kimes begged for interviews to demonstrate his innocence.
