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

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Increase decrease investing 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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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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Amount of expense for award under share-based payment arrangement. Excludes amount capitalized.

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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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No definition available.

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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 over which grantee's right to exercise award under share-based payment arrangement is no longer contingent on satisfaction of service or performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Includes, but is not limited to, combination of market, performance or service condition.

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Description of service or performance condition required to be met for earning right to award under share-based payment arrangement. Includes, but is not limited to, combination of market, performance or service condition.

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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 shares issued under share-based payment arrangement.

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Stockholders' Equity - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Millions, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2019
Stock options
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Common stock options outstanding	0.5		0.5
Weighted average exercise price per share of common stock outstanding	$ 22.13		$ 22.13
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			$ 20.9		$ 20.1
Vesting description			The RSUs awarded to officers and executive officers in 2019 and 2020 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 for the 2019 awards, and December 31, 2020, 2021, and 2022 for the 2020 awards, 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 or decreased using a modifier of 80% to 120% based on CoreCivic's total shareholder return relative to a peer group. Because the performance criteria for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2021 and 2022 have not yet been established, the values of the third RSU increment of the 2019 awards and of the second and third increments of the 2020 awards 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%
Allocated share-based compensation expense	$ 4.1	$ 4.6	$ 13.0	$ 12.7
Restricted common stock units remained outstanding and subject to vesting	2.0		2.0
Restricted stock based awards \| Minimum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Increase decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group			80.00%
Restricted stock based awards \| Maximum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Increase decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group			120.00%
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	$ 3.7	4.2	$ 11.7	11.3
Restricted stock based awards \| Operating
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Allocated share-based compensation expense	$ 0.4	$ 0.4	$ 1.3	$ 1.4
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			1.2		0.9
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			1.1		0.8
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			0.1		0.1
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