Inmate who held reporter hostage disciplined

ALBANY, N.Y. - A convicted murderer who held a pen to the neck of a reporter during a prison interview and held her hostage for four hours will spend his next eight years in disciplinary housing, confined to his cell 23 hours a day.

Kenneth Kimes, who along with his mother is serving a life sentence for the murder of a New York City millionaire, was being interviewed inside the Clinton Correctional Facility Oct. 10 when he grabbed Court TV reporter Maria Zone.

Kimes held the pen to Zone's neck and demanded his mother not be extradited to California to face charges in another slaying for which both mother and son could face the death penalty.

Guards were able to tackle him after about four hours and free Zone.

Kimes was found guilty of charges including assault and possession of a weapon for the attack. His mother, Sante Kimes, was also placed in disciplinary housing for six months after guards searched her cell and found a pen she had fashioned into a weapon.

New York Gov. George Pataki said last week that both would be extradited.