Property And Equipment - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 Facility Building Property	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Elizabeth Detention Center	Dec. 31, 2012 North Georgia Detention Center	Dec. 31, 2012 San Diego Correctional Facility	Dec. 31, 2009 Wheeler County Development Authority Y	Dec. 31, 2009 Douglas-Coffee County Industrial Authority Y
Number of real estate properties owned	51
Number of correctional and detention facilities	49
Number of real estate properties leased	2
Number of vacant real estate properties	1
Number of corporate office buildings	2
Number of correctional and detention facilities owned by government agencies	20
Interest capitalization cost on construction in progress	$ 1,100,000	$ 1,600,000	$ 3,900,000
Depreciation expense	114,100,000	108,400,000	106,100,000
Number of facilities subject to options	11
Number of facilities subject to options that are constructed on land which is leased from governmental agencies	2
Number of facilities also subject to purchase option	1
Operating lease, expire date				June 2015	2027	December 2015
Rental expenses incurred on lease property	4,700,000	6,200,000	6,200,000
Percentage of income tax abatement							50.00%	100.00%
Principal amount of bond issued							30,000,000	33,000,000
Purchase price paid for real property in addition to bonds value							$ 100	$ 100
Number of years of tax abatement							6	5