Inmates return to normal day following release of reporter

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

"The commissioner believes the incident last night was an isolated one and he therefore intends to return the Clinton Correctional Facility to a normal programmed day," said Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Flateau.

Prisoners had been confined to their cells around 6 p.m. Tuesday as a precaution.

While holding producer Maria Zone, Kenneth Kimes demanded that his co-defendant, his mother, Sante, not be extradited to California on murder charges for which both could face the death penalty, officials said.

Kimes is serving a sentence of 125 1-3 years at Clinton Correctional Facility in northeastern New York. His mother was also sentenced on June 27 to more than 120 years for murdering Irene Silverman in a scheme to steal her $7 million Manhattan home.

In California, the Kimeses have been indicted in the 1998 murder of a business associate.

Zone was freed from Kimes' grip by officers who distracted and then wrestled the 25-year-old prisoner to the floor, said Flateau. Kimes was subdued with body holds while Zone was escorted from the room.

In an interview Wednesday morning on NBC's "Today" show, Zone said she was "a little sore from being grabbed" but was otherwise unharmed.

She said the incident began around 2:20 p.m. during a break in the interview when Kimes asked if she would get him some candy bars. When she returned with the candy, Kimes grabbed Zone, backed her into a corner, pressed a pen underneath her chin and said, "This is a hostage situation."

As they crouched in a corner, Zone said she thought, "This is a man who's been convicted of murder ... he may use (the pen) as a lethal weapon."

Zone said about four hours into the ordeal, a prison official from Albany arrived to negotiate with Kimes. By that point Kimes and Zone were sitting in chairs, their arms linked.

"I thought, 'If get a dislocated shoulder out of this, that's OK,"' Zone recalled during the interview at NBC affiliate WSTM in Syracuse.

She said the prison official managed to distract Kimes and guards jumped in and wrestled him to the floor.

Zone said the incident won't keep her from doing more prison interviews.

"Just because you have a bad day at work doesn't mean you quit your job," she said. "I love my job."

Prison officials said after Kimes grabbed Zone, he told her camera and sound operators, Drew Harty and Jeremy Drowne, to "back off."

There was one officer in the room with the TV crew who observed the inmate. When the inmate grabbed the reporter, the officer pulled an alarm and called for assistance.

Several officers including prison negotiators, spoke with Kimes until 6:41 p.m. During the negotiation, Kimes pulled Zone onto a chair next to him and the two sat side-by-side.

Kimes was a popular and willing media subject, having been interviewed previously by CNN's Larry King and "Details" magazine. On Tuesday, "Details" released letters in which Kimes begged for interviews to demonstrate his innocence. The "Arts and Entertainment" channel also had an interview scheduled for Thursday, which has now been canceled.

"Mr. Kimes has had his last interview," Flateau said.

Kimes spent Tuesday night in an observation cell under the constant eye of correctional officers, Flateau said. Kimes will later be moved to disciplinary housing where he will be confined 23 hours a day and allowed out for one hour of exercise daily.

Although Silverman's body was never found, the Kimeses, former Hawaii residents, were convicted after a 13-week trial. Their lawyers said they were planning appeals. Flateau said Clinton and Westchester counties are in the process of scheduling extradition hearings for both Kimeses.

The Clinton Correctional Facility, 13 miles west of Plattsburgh near the Canadian border, houses 2,865 inmates.

Zone, who lives in the Syracuse area, has been a free-lance producer-reporter for Court TV about three years, network spokeswoman Betsy Vorce said.

Zone had interviewed Kimes several weeks ago, conducted the talk without problem and returned Tuesday to interview him on camera for "Crime Stories," a documentary-style program, Vorce said. Her previous work included reporting on Thomas Capano, convicted of murder in Delaware.

Matthew Weissmann, one of Kenneth's lawyers during trial, said Tuesday that he and Kenneth Kimes had recently exchanged letters and calls and Kimes seemed more content than he had been at Rikers Island.

"I am totally shocked by this," Weissmann said about the hostage situation. "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."