Decrease in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria.

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Decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group.

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Increase in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria.

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Increase in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group.

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Percent of awards eligible to vest.

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Value of share instruments newly issued under a share-based compensation plan.

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Represents the expense recognized during the period arising from equity-based compensation arrangements (for example, shares of stock, unit, stock options or other equity instruments) with employees, directors and certain consultants qualifying for treatment as employees.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Estimated period over which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the equity-based payment award, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Description of award terms as to how many shares or portion of an award are no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, thereby giving the employee the legal right to convert the award to shares, to sell the shares, and be entitled to the cash proceeds of such sale. For example, vesting may be expressed as being 25 percent of the shares under option on each anniversary of the grant date.

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The number of non-vested equity-based payment instruments, excluding stock (or unit) options, that validly exist and are outstanding as of the balance sheet date.

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Number of options outstanding, including both vested and non-vested options.

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Weighted average price at which grantees can acquire the shares reserved for issuance under the stock option plan.

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Number of share instruments newly issued under a share-based compensation plan.

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Stockholders' Equity - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2018
Stock options
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Common stock options outstanding	700,000
Weighted average exercise price per share of common stock outstanding	$ 20.49
Restricted stock based awards
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Fair value of restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic to certain of its employees and non-employee directors	$ 19.1		$ 20.5
Vesting description	The RSUs awarded to officers and executive officers in 2019 consist of a combination of awards with performance-based conditions and time-based conditions. Unless earlier vested under the terms of the RSU agreements, the RSUs with time-based vesting conditions vest evenly generally on the first, second, and third anniversary of the award. The RSUs with performance-based vesting conditions are divided into one-third increments, each of which is subject to vesting based upon satisfaction of certain annual performance criteria established at the beginning of the fiscal years ending December 31, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and which can be increased by up to 150% or decreased to 0% based on performance relative to the annual performance criteria, and further increased by up to an additional 120% or decreased by 80% based on CoreCivic's total shareholder return relative to a peer group. Because the performance criteria for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2020 and 2021 has not yet been established, the values of the second and third RSU increments for financial reporting purposes will not be determined until such criteria are established.
Increase in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria	150.00%
Decrease in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria	0.00%
Increase in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group	120.00%
Decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group	80.00%
Allocated share-based compensation expense	$ 3.8	$ 3.5
Restricted common stock units remained outstanding and subject to vesting	1,600,000
Restricted stock based awards \| General and Administrative
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Allocated share-based compensation expense	$ 3.3	3.0
Restricted stock based awards \| Operating
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Allocated share-based compensation expense	$ 0.5	$ 0.5
Restricted stock based awards \| Employees And Non Employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic	892,000		945,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Employees And Non Employee Directors \| General and Administrative
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic	808,000		850,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Employee \| Operating
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic	84,000		95,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Officers And Executive Officers
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period	3 years
Percent of awards eligible to vest	33.33%
Restricted stock based awards \| Non Employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period	1 year
Restricted stock based awards \| Other Employees
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period, continuous service requirement	3 years