The Special Needs Facility aims to provide quality care in a secure environment so that ill inmates do not endanger the rest of the community and so that the transfer and management of these inmates is made much easier. The Special Needs Facility also operates at a lower cost than contracting health care out to community hospitals and other facilities. Each institution in Tennessee assesses its inmates and, if inmate health care needs exceed what that institution can provide, administrators contact the Special Needs Facility. Inmates come to the facility with a range of illnesses and stay anywhere from several weeks or, in the case of terminally ill inmates, until their death. The facility also provides mental health services, sex offender treatment programs, and physical rehabilitation.