REAL ESTATE AND RELATED ASSETS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

At December 31, 2022, CoreCivic owned 63 correctional, detention, and residential reentry real estate properties, and 8 properties leased to government agencies. At December 31, 2022, CoreCivic also managed four correctional and detention facilities owned by governmental agencies.

Property and equipment, at cost, consists of the following (in thousands):


	December 31,
	2022			2021
Land and improvements	$	238,707		$	247,525
Buildings and improvements		3,115,101			3,175,090
Equipment and software		445,658			436,831
Office furniture and fixtures		38,523			38,256
Construction in progress		54,392			43,263
		3,892,381			3,940,965
Less: Accumulated depreciation		(1,716,283	)		(1,657,709	)
	$	2,176,098		$	2,283,256

Construction in progress primarily consists of property improvements in process. Interest is capitalized on construction in progress and amounted to $1.0 million, $0.4 million, and $0.5 million in 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively.

Depreciation expense was $126.7 million, $132.9 million, and $141.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively.

Ten of the facilities owned by CoreCivic are subject to options that allow various governmental agencies to purchase those facilities. Certain of these options to purchase are based on a depreciated book value while others are based on a fair market value calculation. Four of the facilities that are subject to options are accounted for in accordance with ASC 853 and are recorded in other real estate assets on the consolidated balance sheets, as further described in Note 2. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, CoreCivic had $208.2 million and $218.9 million, respectively in other real estate assets, including $136.3 million and $140.5 million, respectively, accounted for as a contract cost and $71.9 million and $78.4 million, respectively, accounted for as costs of fulfilling the related service contract.