February 9, 2005

Few women at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, NY, benefit from easing of Rockefeller-era drug laws; only about 10 of 850 drug-related prisoners are released as result of changes; prisoner advocates say that by focusing on most sympathetic prisoners, they may have inadvertently limited assistance for vast majority of women jailed on drug charges; women account for 5 percent of prison population, but about 7 percent of drug offenders; photo (M)

Many older workers who expected to ease comfortably out of labor force in their 50's or early 60's are discovering they do not have enough money and are returning to work, especially as numerous companies withdraw retiree medical benefits and switch to less generous retirement plans; Labor Department projects that workers over age 55 will make up 19.1 percent of labor force by 2012, up from 14.3 percent in 2002; older people are working out of necessity, not in spirit of finding new opportunities; John A Lemoine, forced into early retirement from AT&T at age 54, and Joe Janson, who lost Lucent nest egg when stock collapsed and then lost medical coverage, are among those working at much lower-paying jobs; percentage of men 55-64 in work force, 87 percent in 1950 and 65 percent in 1994, inches back up to 69 percent; 31 percent of women over 55 are working, up from 21 percent in mid-1980's; photos; graph (M)

A HOUSING PROGRAM is aimed at keeping families in the military and reducing recruitment and training costs. [C10.] DEVELOPERS IN WHITE PLAINS have had success subdividing a former corporate headquarters into spaces for small and midsized tenants. [C11.]

New York premiere of Inside Deep Throat, documentary about making of 1972 porn film, draws celebrity audience; photo; publisher Judith Regand and law professors Catharine A MacKinnon and Alan M Dershowitz discuss phenomenon of groundbreaking original (M)

Caryn James Critic's Notebook on two recent books exploring social meaning of myths about three women, Marilyn Monroe and, in earlier age, Charlotte and Emily Bronte; photo; books are The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Sarah Churchwell and The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller (M)