What are some of the major challenges today in providing effective treatment programs in prison? I am using the following book. Latessa, E. J., & Holsinger, A. M. (2016). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and classical readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 16, 17, 18, 20, 22

This is an anthology of essays co-edited by Edward LaTessa and Alexander Holdinger covering a wide range of topics within the essays collected. Some of the topics covered explore the most significant challenges facing the prison system today, including recidivism (the tendency for released prisoners to become involved again in crime and return to prison). The authors comprise an array of journalists and academics, including journalist Ted Conover, who became employed as a corrections officer in order to go undercover and learn about the prison system for his book Newjack.
In defining "treatment programs," it is important to specify what kind of treatment is being referred to. The most common treatment programs in prison usually deal with drug offenders, sex offenders, and violent criminals. The latter two categories seek to address behavioral tendencies from a psychological perspective, through counseling and behavioral modification methods. The chapters indicated in your question address a number of different aspects of treatment approaches, as well as determining success rates over a period of time.
In chapter 16, "Experiences and Attitudes of Registered Female Sex Offenders" by Richard Tewksbury, the author acknowledges that studies of female sex offenders are relatively rare and seeks to illuminate common misconceptions while offering a survey of significant facts. Female sex offenders only began to be seriously studied in the 1980s, and generally, their crimes are seen as "less serious" than those of male sex offenders, as well as less easy to detect and prosecute. Understanding the special challenges facing female prisoners is one way of helping design and implement effective treatment. The author's research explores sex offender registries and the issues faced by offenders in their communities after they are released from prison, including harassment, housing discrimination, and difficulty finding employment.
Chapter 17 is a somewhat older study that looks at issues surrounding treatment in the 1960s. Martinson's attempt to answer the question "What works?" is explored by looking at a number of programs implemented in prisons to try and prevent prison riots, a number of which occurred in the 1960s. These riots resulted in a loss of life and demoralizing conditions at their institutions. Martinson's research first surveys prison rehabilitation programs that were used from 1945 to 1967 and looks at the data on outcome, such as recidivism rates, vocational success, educational achievement, and personality and attitude change. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Martinson's conclusions were as follows:




With few and isolated exceptions, the rehabilitative efforts that have been reported so far have had no appreciable effect on recidivism.




No doubt these findings led to changes in how rehabilitation programs were designed and potentially fueled more research into why and how recidivism occurs.
In chapter 18, "The Principles of Effective Correctional Programs" by Don A. Andrews, we see a summary of approaches to effective treatment programs. It is important to note that the author's work has been highly influential in the field of prison rehabilitation. Andrews first formulated the "Risk-need-responsivity" model, also known as the RNR model, considered to be one of the most influential models for the assessment and treatment of offenders. The principles of this approach have come to be known in the field as the "Andrews Principles." Some of the main core components involve the assessment of the risk of reoffending, the offender's needs that must be targeted in treatment, and the style of treatment best suited to the offender's risk level and need.
The authors of the article in Chapter 20 previously collaborated on research examining the impact of the closing of state mental hospitals on prison populations. This is a highly controversial subject about a practice which had a serious impact on many states' prison populations, most notably in Massachusetts, where a number of large mental health facilities were shut down in the 1980s and 1990s. Because social programs have not been sufficient to help these people adjust to life outside the mental hospitals, many of them end up in prison. One main issue explored in this research is the basic fact that the population of prison inmates with mental disorders is functioning marginally within a general prison population due to a lack of social skills and self-care skills, which can lead to serious issues and risks for the prisoner. It is also true that the majority of corrections officers do not possess adequate skills or training to address the special issues facing these inmates.
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https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/68_3_5_0.pdf